What a Coincidence

Is there such a thing as coincidence? Is God really in charge of everything or only the really BIG things? 

Ever wonder what the Bible says about it?

The word "coincidence" is used only once in the New Testament and it was by Jesus Himself in the parable of the Good Samaritan. In Luke 10:31, Jesus said, "And by a coincidence a certain priest was going down in that way, and having seen him, he passed over on the opposite side." The word "coincidence" is translated from the Greek word "synkyrian," which is a combination of two words: sun and kurios. Sun means "together with" and kurious means "supreme in authority." So a biblical definition of coincidence would be "what occurs together by God's providential arrangement of circumstances."

What appears to us as random chance is in fact overseen by a sovereign God who knows the number of hairs on every head (Matthew 10:30; Luke 12:7). Jesus said that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father's notice (Matthew 10:29). In Isaiah 46:9-11, God states clearly that He is in charge of everything. He says, "I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do."

Coincidence is the way we humans explain unexpected events and surprise meetings. But just because we are taken by surprise does not mean that God is. Although scripture is clear that God allows sinful humans to make mistakes and reap the consequences of those mistakes, only a sovereign God could also promise that He will make "all things work together for the good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). In ways known only to God, He can take even our mistakes and unplanned events and weave them together to fulfill His purposes.