October 15, 1996 ?
Our visitor mentioned a particular religious group that sends out their door-to-door representatives. He said that the Christian church could take a lesson from their organizational strategies. I responded, “Maybe the Lord organizes the church more effectively than we think,” and told him this story.
More than twenty-five years ago, my sister and family were living in Algeria. During that time, they met a Christian missionary who introduced them to Jesus Christ. My sister says she was excited about her new faith and about returning to Canada. However, she was also a bit apprehensive about finding other Christians. As far as she knew, the only believer in Alberta was a woman who had taught Daily Vacation Bible School (DVBS) when we were children.
After they moved into their home south of Calgary, they selected a church and ventured out that first Sunday. My sister relates sitting down, still nervous about not knowing any Christians, when a woman came and sat beside her. It was our childhood DVBS teacher!
While many people would remark on an amazing “coincidence,” I am convinced that God not only knows our needs and fears, He also knows how to meet those needs and calm those fears. Since He is sovereign, He can use all of His creation and organize it according to His plans. Despite our resistance and rebellion, He can make sure anyone and anything is in the right place at the right time.
As for organization, humanly speaking we like to have visible control. Not only that, we like to impress others with our organizational skills. Yet “God’s ways are not our ways.” He is not as concerned whether we can see what He is doing as much as He wants us to trust Him. If He is God and we believe what He says about Himself, then we do not need to know His organizational strategy. All we need to know is that “He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.”
This is where faith comes in. Our faith is not in a highly visible map of our future or in knowing life will work out the way we want. Instead, our faith is in God, whether we can see what He is doing or not. As a new believer going to church for the first time in her own country, my sister had no idea that the first Christian she would see would be an old friend. Besides, knowing it would ruin the surprise. Imagine the delight in her Heavenly Father’s heart as He arranged to have that teacher walk into that church, on that day, and sit right beside His new child!
As for making an impression on people with His great organizational ability, God is not into that either. Nonetheless, He is making an impression. Ephesians 3:10 says, “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms . . . “
God uses what appears to be a disorganized body of believers to impress those who rule in the unseen realm—angels and demons. While they are not capable of knowing all that God knows, they are far more aware than we are of what He is doing through His church.
Scripture confirms that these principalities and powers gaze at the church in overwhelmed awe. They know that God is “not the author of confusion” but an orderly, organized God. This one personal story illustrates only a small fraction of His ability to structure events as He pleases.
Most of the time, the visible organization we can see in the church varies from “not bad” to “awful.” However, we know that one day we will see it more clearly. For now, we can trust our Lord and delight in His “coincidences.”
Showing posts with label coincidences. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coincidences. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Coincidences? ................. Parables 219
(May 30, 1990)
For a couple of weeks a friend of mind kept silent about some mistreatment she was receiving from another person whose name happened to be Ms. Fox. My friend told me how God encouraged her through a sermon about “little foxes spoiling the vine...”
Just as I sat down to write this article, I thought, “I should get her permission (to say what I just said) before I begin.” At just that moment, the telephone rang and it was the same friend, calling to chat.
A few months ago, my brother and his wife took a vacation to the U.S. They stopped for a coffee at a service station in the Arizona desert. As they sat down, my sister-in-law’s father (also from Alberta) happened to walk in. Neither of them even knew the other was on vacation, never mind where.
An older lady, whose farm yard had the usual icy build-up all winter, fell and broke her hip -- but on a well-waxed community hall floor where there were literally hundreds of people immediately available to help her. Her husband said if she had slipped in their own driveway, he’d never have been able to get her inside out of the freezing temperatures by himself .
What do you think: coincidence... or providence? People use the term “coincidence” for events that seem to have some connection but appear to happen at the same time without any preliminary planning. Sometimes people call it “luck.” Providence is quite another term. It is less the idea of an accident and more the idea of “someone being in control.” The dictionary says “divine guidance or care,” with “God being the power behind human destiny.”
The sovereign providence of God is not an easy concept. If He can provide a hall full of caring people for a lady who broke her hip, could not He have provided that the fall didn’t happen in the first place? However, if mere chance determines who shows up in a coffee shop, or what preachers say in their sermons, why bother asking God to do anything? Prayer (and life) is meaningless if chance rules the world.
My mind is too small to grasp God’s supreme control, however this illustration helps me: Imagine all people in one giant playground. There is a fence around it and while the fence doesn’t control each and every movement of the children inside, it does contain them within its boundaries.
God does the same. He holds us within His boundaries. Like the children at play, we are free to make choices but not go outside the fence. Yet God is not passive like a fence. He also can involve Himself with our choices. Imagine two children trying to ride the same swing at the same time. He can intervene if it suits His purposes, or leave them to work it out.
In other words, He didn’t toss us into a bingo number cage and start turning the crank to see what falls out. Nor are we like chess pieces that cannot move unless He moves us. He lovingly keeps His eyes on every event and, by faith, “we know He works all things work together for our good . . .” (Romans 8:28), yet we are free within His boundaries.
With that concept, we can enjoy providence -- the marvelous, watchful care and intervention of God in our the lives. Let’s face it, if Someone wasn’t intervening, we’d have blown ourselves off the planet before now.
But what about coincidence? Do we have to fear (or hope) that things just happen? Is luck part of life?
Well, if it is, the Lord God is not surprised by chance. We may not understand everything that happens, but HE does. Because of His providence, when people say, “things have a way of working out...” we can be certain that a loving God is the One doing the working!
For a couple of weeks a friend of mind kept silent about some mistreatment she was receiving from another person whose name happened to be Ms. Fox. My friend told me how God encouraged her through a sermon about “little foxes spoiling the vine...”
Just as I sat down to write this article, I thought, “I should get her permission (to say what I just said) before I begin.” At just that moment, the telephone rang and it was the same friend, calling to chat.
A few months ago, my brother and his wife took a vacation to the U.S. They stopped for a coffee at a service station in the Arizona desert. As they sat down, my sister-in-law’s father (also from Alberta) happened to walk in. Neither of them even knew the other was on vacation, never mind where.
An older lady, whose farm yard had the usual icy build-up all winter, fell and broke her hip -- but on a well-waxed community hall floor where there were literally hundreds of people immediately available to help her. Her husband said if she had slipped in their own driveway, he’d never have been able to get her inside out of the freezing temperatures by himself .
What do you think: coincidence... or providence? People use the term “coincidence” for events that seem to have some connection but appear to happen at the same time without any preliminary planning. Sometimes people call it “luck.” Providence is quite another term. It is less the idea of an accident and more the idea of “someone being in control.” The dictionary says “divine guidance or care,” with “God being the power behind human destiny.”
The sovereign providence of God is not an easy concept. If He can provide a hall full of caring people for a lady who broke her hip, could not He have provided that the fall didn’t happen in the first place? However, if mere chance determines who shows up in a coffee shop, or what preachers say in their sermons, why bother asking God to do anything? Prayer (and life) is meaningless if chance rules the world.
My mind is too small to grasp God’s supreme control, however this illustration helps me: Imagine all people in one giant playground. There is a fence around it and while the fence doesn’t control each and every movement of the children inside, it does contain them within its boundaries.
God does the same. He holds us within His boundaries. Like the children at play, we are free to make choices but not go outside the fence. Yet God is not passive like a fence. He also can involve Himself with our choices. Imagine two children trying to ride the same swing at the same time. He can intervene if it suits His purposes, or leave them to work it out.
In other words, He didn’t toss us into a bingo number cage and start turning the crank to see what falls out. Nor are we like chess pieces that cannot move unless He moves us. He lovingly keeps His eyes on every event and, by faith, “we know He works all things work together for our good . . .” (Romans 8:28), yet we are free within His boundaries.
With that concept, we can enjoy providence -- the marvelous, watchful care and intervention of God in our the lives. Let’s face it, if Someone wasn’t intervening, we’d have blown ourselves off the planet before now.
But what about coincidence? Do we have to fear (or hope) that things just happen? Is luck part of life?
Well, if it is, the Lord God is not surprised by chance. We may not understand everything that happens, but HE does. Because of His providence, when people say, “things have a way of working out...” we can be certain that a loving God is the One doing the working!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)