Calculated, not Coincidence

Proverbs 20:24a, NIV

A person’s steps are directed by the LORD. 

I stopped believing in coincidences a long time ago. When God first called me to build something alongside him many years ago, I began to understand his sovereignty in a whole new way. Things I previously would have attributed to coincidence, I began to understand were calculated. 

We see this truth exemplified over and over again throughout scripture: 

• Rebekah showed up at the well just as Abraham’s servant was finishing his prayer about finding Isaac’s wife (Genesis 24:15)

• Gideon snuck down to the Medianites’ camp at exactly the time (and place) where one of the soldiers was telling his dream to another soldier (Judges 7:13)

• Ruth and Naomi arrived in Bethlehem just as the barley harvest was beginning (Ruth 1:22)

• The Shunammite woman went before the king to request her land back just as he and Gehazi had been discussing her story (2 Kings 8:5)

• King Xerxes was not able to sleep and had the chronicles of his reign read to him—discovering that Mordecai had uncovered a plot to kill him—the night before Haman was planning to execute Mordecai (Esther 5-6)

• Caesar Augustus issued the census which brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem just before Jesus was to be born (Luke 2)

• Jesus sat at the well just before the Samaritan woman came to draw water (John 4)

• Philip arrived at the road to Gaza just as the Ethiopian eunuch was reading from the passage of Isaiah about Jesus (Acts 8)

• Peter received a vision to prepare his heart just before Cornelius’ servants arrived at the house to ask him to come with them (Acts 10-11)

Your years, your days, and sometimes even your moments are calculated by your Creator. 

When we truly grasp this concept, not only does it flood us with peace, but it adds an element of adventure into our lives which we might otherwise miss. I recently heard a highly-respected theologian/pastor say it like this: “when you have a very high view of God’s sovereignty…every day is a treasure hunt.”

Oh Lord, may we have hearts to understand these calculated moments in our lives, and may we have eyes to perceive the treasures within them.