Just about five weeks ago, my husband took me to the ER. I was in tremendous pain; morphine was welcomed with open arms! Once the pain subsided, they sent me home. As I lay in bed the next day, a friend phoned and prayed with me. Only minutes after we hung up, my doctor phoned and instructed me to return to the ER immediately—no delay. After various scans and waiting for over 12 hours on a bed in the hallway, the physician recommended emergency surgery. Strangely, she and her colleagues gave me a choice. With the interesting timing, my husband, Richard, and I felt led to go ahead. The post-surgery lab and other analyses showed surgery was highly necessary.
Was this a coincidence or a God-incidence? Did the God of the Universe really care about my relatively insignificant problem (when compared to the suffering that goes on all around the world)? Surely, I’m not that important! Or is that wrong thinking rooted in my hidden and mistaken assumption that He’s limited?
To answer the question, I put on my scientist hat. A silly example. On several occasions a couple of weeks ago, I saw a VERY fat squirrel in my backyard. She was almost square! I formulated some hypotheses, framed as questions. Could this be her winter fur coat? Had I been feeding her peanut butter? Does she have a glandular problem? The first seemed unlikely given that all the squirrels in my yard aren’t fat. I knew I wasn’t guilty of the second, but how could I know if she’s genetically predisposed to obesity or has another problem? I turned to the all-knowing Google. Apparently, squirrels can have two litters a year, giving birth in the early Spring and late Summer. This leads me to think she’s probably pregnant, even though I still have questions. She seems too big to be due in February! But, short of catching my mega-squirrel friend and taking her to a vet for a check, this theory is the best I can do.
What’s the evidence that God cared about my December adventures? First, I considered the timing. Although I felt the rumblings, the medical crisis didn’t happen while I was on vacation with my mom and siblings, celebrating her upcoming 90th. I had time to unpack, hang out with my sister, who stayed on for a week, enjoy Thanksgiving with my family, and buy all my Christmas gifts. The last is highly unusual for me, but I felt pressure to do it. A God-given push?
The day I had to go in for the second time “just happened” to be the same day my husband had cataract surgery, so he was home. The next day, he was off work again. The following week, he began his winter break. That meant I had his help and support all through December. Not only that, but my precious children gathered around. One son dropped everything, came to the hospital, and was incredibly helpful. Another son, usually very busy at work, phoned and talked to his father while I was in surgery. Another checked in by text and he and his wife regularly had their youngest Facetime with me. My daughter and her children did what I couldn’t—they and my mother decorated my home for Christmas. And, just a day or two ago, my husband, who’s off work until January 6, helped with taking the decorations down. I am blessed with a wonderful family.
The question remains. When we experience multiple coincidences, could they actually be God-incidences? I turned to the words of God, who knows so much more than Google.
Matthew 6 says
Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Luke 12:7 says that even the hairs on your head are numbered. Google says the average person has 90-150,000, depending on age, health, and other factors. There are eight billion people in the world, so there are 800,000,000,000,000 hairs. That’s a lot of counting, especially since the count needs to be adjusted every time a person brushes their hair!
As with the possibly pregnant squirrel in my backyard, I can’t say for sure whether God was manipulating my circumstances. But my best theory is that, yes, these were God-incidences, not coincidences.
I encourage you to be watchful. You’re important to Him, and He’s big enough to be able to focus on all His loved ones at the same time. Don’t miss the God-incidences in your life!