Historians have pointed out some interesting parallels between two American presidents. Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, who were exactly 100 years apart. Both were deeply involved in civil rights issues; both were assassinated on a Friday in the presence of their wives; both lost a son while they were living in the White House. Lincoln was assassinated in Ford’s Theater, Kennedy was killed riding in a Ford vehicle, and both men were succeeded by individuals whose names were Johnson, born exactly 100 years apart.
Because of the natural laws that God put into effect, certain things can be predicted according to what scientists define as the laws of probability. For example, if twenty-three people are selected at random, the chances are at least one in two that two of them will have the same birthday.
Psychiatrist Carl Jung spent a lifetime collecting background on rare phenomena which just can’t be explained. In an essay he wrote in 1952, he contended that “coincidences occur much more frequently than probability theories would predict.” He described it as “synchronicity.”
Can we explain all such things as coincidences or by using a term we often hear: “It just happens!”?
Long ago, William Shakespear commented, “There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will.” For individual who is committed to the truth of God’s Word, there is a guidance that goes beyond coincidence or chance. Known as the providence of God, it is certainly that for the child of God, there is a force that provides guidance and, at times, direction in ways that we cannot fathom. It is the sure hand of God that guides and sometimes overrides our decisions and our own personal will. To Isaiah, long ago God said, “…I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.”
Viewing life as an intricate game of chance or fate or “It just happens,” often leaves you with the feeling that you are at the mercy of odds that are not in your favor. But viewing life from the perspective of the Bible makes us see the strong but sure hand of God guiding not only the affairs of our world, but our personal lives as well, when we become the children of God.
The great promises of God regarding guidance are there for us as His children. Remember what John said in John 1:12, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God….” In the original text it says, “He gave authority and power to become children of God….”
Given authority and power to become children of God means that God can say with power and authority, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).
For those who are God’s children, there is no such thing as chance or fate or “it just happens!” But there is the loving guidance of a Heavenly Father. There is never a coincidence - only an incidence wrought by the Hand of the Almighty.
I hope you are enjoying your summer.
Pastor Gideon