Coincidences, Unexplained Synchronization of Events or Spiritual Puns

 

Awesome photo courtesy of Eileen Decamp ~ Monticello

 

 



Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26 NIV


This week a story is trending on Yahoo about an uncanny coincidence.  Marion Shurtleff, of San Clemente, California purchased an old bible in a used bookstore several months ago.  She noticed a folded piece of yellow paper  between the pages, but a couple of months passed before she toke the time to open the paper and read it.  When she did, she made an astonishing discovery.  The paper was actually an essay that she herself had written 65 years ago to earn her merit badge for Girl Scouts, when she was living 2,000 miles away in Covington, Kentucky.  Who could have imagined such a coincidence.  Now, she is on a quest to find out who owned the bible and why they saved the letter.  She wonders if there is a message in this for her.

 

In the life of a believer, is there any such thing as chance or coincidence?  God engineers everything.  I believe most of us would concede that God is in control of the circumstances in our lives.  We go our merry everyday ways not thinking much about that fact until some synchronized details reveal a mystery so intricate that it could only be explained as the unseen hand of God. 

G. K. Chesterton said “coincidences are spiritual puns.”  I wonder what he meant by that.  The word pun means a joke.  If that is the case then, according to Chesterton, God has a real sense of humor.  But maybe, the purpose of coincidence is much grander than that.

When such an event occurs—a connection that has persisted over miles in time and space--is revealed.  We wonder if God is speaking to us through the circumstances.  God’s providence has been revealed to our unseeing eyes by the working out of this event called “coincidence”.  No matter how we explain it, ordinary events have come together in such a way that we marvel at  God's grace and His providential care.

But now, this is what the LORD says-- he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1 NIV



Sunset at Beaver Creek Reservoir ~ thanks Eileen DeCamp

 



Thank you for visiting Write Moments with God.  Please consider leaving a comment below.  I'd love to read your thoughts on "coincidences".  Do you have an interesting one to share? 

Please come back on Monday when I introduce my guest author for June and give-away one of her new books!