Is it Luck or Coincidence or Something Else?

Philippians 4:19:  "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus".

Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose".

Has it ever seemed to you that some people always get the breaks in life?  How often have you heard someone say "Boy, was I lucky today!"  OR "What a coincidence that this money came in the mail today just when I needed it"?  Sometimes it sure seems like some people are favored more than others.  It also seems that some people are just in the right place at the right time, and good things happened to them. 

Think about the words "luck" and "coincidence".  The word "luck" means "the things that happen to a person because of chance; the accidental way things happen without being planned".  "Coincidence" means "the occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection".

I don't believe that God does anything by accident or chance.  I believe in God and His mighty power 
to supply all of our needs and work all things together for the good of those He has called to His 
purpose. 

In recent weeks, we have heard messages about God's Benefit Package, the Power of Worship, the Treasure of Wisdom, and Overcoming the Mountain of Disappointment.  I believe that each of these messages supports the power of our God rather than the power of luck or coincidence.  Through the power of worship and the treasure of wisdom that God has given us, we are owners of God's benefit package and able to overcome the mountains of disappointment.  God provides us with what we need, and He leads us through all things that will work together for good.

Let me share a story with you to illustrate these 2 scriptures.

This summer, Mike and I went over to Carol's house to take a load of her yard trimmings to the 
county dump.  There was a pile of tree limbs, leaves, and yard waste laying neatly on a blue tarp in 
her driveway.  Mike backed the truck up to the pile, and we began to lift the branches off of the top 
of the pile and into the truck.  Then someone suggested that we lift the tarp up and dump the debris 
into the truck. 

Sometimes things are not as easy as they would appear to be.  We struggled at first because the pile was sagging in the middle.  I found a large limb and put it under the middle part so Carol could reach it, and we used the limb as leverage to get that sagging part into the truck.  Then we dumped the debris into the truck bed so that we could cover the debris with the tarp.  We were feeling pretty smart about things at that point.  Mighty Mike pulled out his tie-down straps, and we secured the tarp over the debris, ensuring that nothing would blow out of the truck.  Mike's Hauling Service was ready to go!  Before we left for the dump, Mike suggested that Carol bring some equipment to help us get the load out of the truck bed so she brought 2 shovels and a pitchfork.

We drove to the county dump in Bahama, about a 20 minute drive.  After the attendant directed us to the bin for yard waste, Mike drove over, and we piled out.  We took the tarp off, laid it on the ground, and began pulling limbs onto the tarp.  Then we hoisted the tarp up, climbed up the steps and tossed the debris into the large yard waste bin.  First load off the truck!

After we cleared some space near the tailgate, I climbed into the truck to help move the limbs toward the tailgate of the truck with the pitchfork.  Carol asked if I wanted her to get in the truck, but I said I was OK.  So I proceeded to clean out the debris from the truck bed using the pitchfork.  After a couple of minutes, Carol said to me, "Rachel, get out of the truck".  I turned around to her and said "What?" because I didn't know why she was telling me that.  She repeated it again, and I knew that I had to get out of that truck.  After I was off, I turned around, and there was a copperhead snake less than a foot away from where I had been standing, and he was trying to get back into the brush to hide.

Mike caught it with the pitchfork and flipped it onto the ground.  Carol removed its head with 1 swift chop of the shovel.  And we all breathed a huge "Thank you , Lord"!!!!  Once Carol, Mike and I calmed down enough to think about this situation, we were able to truly thank God for protecting all of us in this situation.

So was it luck that I wasn't bitten or a was it a coincidence that Mike asked Carol to bring some tools which we needed to kill the snake?  Or was it something else that helped us survive this situation?

 Let's take a look at this:

Obviously the snake had found a great place to snuggle in and keep warm in the yard debris.  No one was bothering him, and he was comfortable.  When we lifted the tarp onto the truck, we probably rocked his calm, serene world and upset him.  And when we were cleaning out the truck at the dump, we really unsettled him.  When he was uncovered, all he wanted to do was to go back into hiding and get away from us.

So here was the situation that we were faced with.  God already knew the situation.  He knew what we were about to deal with.  And the 3 of us believe that God provided us with exactly what we needed to survive & conquer this situation.

There are 5 elements at work here for us to examine:  Vision, Strong Voice, Obedience, Action, the Right Tools

1. Vision

Even though I was in the truck with the pitchfork pulling debris towards the tailgate of the truck, I did not see the snake.  He was certainly camouflaged by his coloring which blended well with the leaves and tree limbs.  But Carol had the right angle - the right position - to see the snake from several feet away.  Her eyes were able to focus on that snake before it got away.  I am very thankful for that!

A definition of Vision is a means of seeing.  In the natural, we greatly depend on our vision to live our lives. 

Try something with me:  I want everyone to close your eyes.  Now think about everything you did this morning to get ready for church from the minute you got out of bed.  Now think about what your morning would have been like if you could not see?  Could you have done the same tasks?  What about drive a car, cook, watch TV, play sports, play video games, sew, use your smartphone?  

Now there are millions of people today who were born without their vision intact or have lost their vision and have adapted to it.  Thankfully there are many, many resources and technologies available today which allow visually impaired persons to live a full and active life.  But for you and me, we know that our lives would be drastically different if we could not see.

Our vision is important to us because it allows us to know what lies ahead.  While driving, we see that the traffic light ahead has turned red so we know that we need to slow down.  If we are cooking and begin to see steam coming out of a pot of water, we know that it is boiling and time to put the spaghetti noodles in.  If you are dribbling a basketball down the court and see an open lane, you can drive through that lane for an open lay-up.  Our vision in the natural allows us to know what's ahead of us.

Think about "vision" in the spiritual -  it means "a divine revelation" or "an understanding".  It also means "the act or power of anticipating that which will come to be". 

How is the spiritual vision different from the natural vision?  In the natural, we can see what lies ahead for us and adjust our reactions to that situation.  In the spiritual, we do not always understand what lies ahead for us, and we have to step out in faith and let God lead us.

When God created us in the beginning, He had an "understanding" about our lives.  He knew what His plan was for us before each of us was manifested here on earth.  God's plan for our life is His vision for us.  It is a "divine revelation" as He leads, guides, and supports us through every stage of His plan.  He is revealing it to us (or taking off the covers) as we take those steps of faith and grow our faith and trust in Him.

But why didn't God just automatically let us know about his vision for our life?  Why didn't He just give us the vision and the truth when we were young so we wouldn't have to spend so much time trying to figure it out? 

It is because He knew that we would need to go through the trials and "growth spurts" in our lives to gain the experiences that are leading us into His vision for us.

-  If I had not lost my brother to stomach cancer almost 8 years ago, do you think that I would have taken the lead role in caring for my mother now, and do you think I would have grown in my faith as I have?  NO!  I would have continued to rely on my brother to be the decision maker.  I would not have come to a point of relying on God to be my decision maker like I am now.  And because of this experience with my brother, I have been able to listen to and comfort staff members at work who have experienced unexpected deaths of a twin brother and a father.  I couldn't have done that in the same way if I had not had those experiences. 

- If Mike had had a different supervisor who knew how to be a manager and coach her employees toward

outstanding work, do you think he would be the person he is now by taking a stand in his job?  NO!  He would have continued to work in a comfortable environment and not have to call on God to help him in this situation.  He has become bolder and continues to stand up for what is right instead of letting people get run over.

Isn't our spiritual Father teaching us like we teach our own children?  If we present them with material possessions whenever they ask, they will not have gained the experience of working for what they have.  They will not learn about the challenges of life, the facts of life, and how to handle them.  How often have you wanted to take care of something for your child but had to refrain because you knew he/she had to make some decisions on their own and learn to handle the consequences? 

Our Father is allowing us to do the same thing.  Think about what you have had to go through?  Why have you had to go through these situations and feelings?  Because deep down, you know that there is purpose in each of them.

If God does not take us through these times, we will not be able to gain the knowledge, wisdom, and skills we will need to fulfill His vision for us.  We will not have the experiences that we need (yes, I said need!) in order to help others towards Christ.  As Apostle Huntsman told us recently, "wisdom is the knowledge gained through our experiences in life".

We must grow into His vision for us just as He is growing within us. 

 2 Corinthians 5:17: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:  old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 

When God quickened himself in us, our old nature "passed away".  Before that, our lives were perishing because they lacked divine revelation; they lacked God's vision for our lives!  Now that God has come alive in us, we have "become new" meaning fresh, regenerate, youthful.  Where?  In Christ = meaning we are in a position; a relation of rest, and it is in Christ.

Carol was in the right position to see that snake.  I believe that God directed her vision in that instance to ensure that she saw the snake.

In a previous message, I talked about the 4 different stages in the development of the butterfly and compared that to the development of a new Christian.  I would like to share an "enhanced" version as we think about "becoming new" in God's vision for our lives:

A butterfly starts its life as a tiny egg.	A Christian's life starts when God is awakened inside of them.  Another Son of God has been reproduced!
The larva or caterpillar hatches from an egg and eats leaves or flowers almost constantly. The caterpillar loses its old skin 4+ times to enclose its rapidly growing body	A Christian begins a slow process of change from the person they used to be into a "new creature". God leads them to read, study and eat the Word constantly & to find a shepherd who teaches the Kingdom message. They will “lose some old skin” just like the butterfly as God cleans them from the inside out. But they will grow new, youthful skin to enclose their rapidly growing faith.
It turns into a pupa or a chrysalis; this is a transformation stage where the caterpillar tissues are broken down & the adult insect's structures are formed	As the Christian continues to consume & digest the Word, the Word fuels the transformation stage within. The inner structures of the "old man" are changed.  A structure is "anything that is composed of parts arranged together in some way".  Those structures in the new man are reorganized in a new way so that Jesus has become the cornerstone of that new structure.
Growth has ended in this last stage, and a beautiful, adult butterfly emerges. This is the reproductive and mobile stage for the species.  This adult will continue the cycle and reproduce.	Growth does NOT end in this stage for the Christian.  A faithful & trusting Christian emerges from the inside out and is a "new creature" in Christ.  This "new creature" is now in the reproductive & mobile stages as a Son of God. They will plant seeds where God directs them in order to reproduce more Sons of God, and they will become mobile & "Go boldly where they have never been before"!

As new creatures in Christ, we are discovering the vision that God has for our lives.

Proverbs 29:18: "Where there is no vision (dream, revelation), the people perish (loosen; dismiss; avoid; refuse)".  If we never get the vision that God has for us, we will perish.  We will become less focused on God; we will give up; we will avoid our faith and loosen our focus on it.

God's vision is divine revelation!  Just as Carol was in the right position to see the snake, we must put ourselves into the right position to discover and live into God's Vision for us!

How do we do this?  The next few elements will tell us how.

2. Strong Voice

Once Carol saw the snake, she gave me the command to get out of the truck.  Her voice was steady and strong.  She didn't yell; she didn't whisper; she didn't break down and cry or jump up and down and scream.  She clearly spoke to me in a strong, firm voice.

Now don't you know that some people would have been screaming and hollering for me to get out of the truck because there was a snake behind me.  That could have set me off to hollering too!  And what good would that have done?  It would have scared the snake so that it might have tried to bite me or hide so quickly that we would have had a hard time finding him and getting him out.

But what about God?  What is His voice like?  Sometimes he probably does need to scream and holler at us to get our attention!  But the scriptures tell us about his strong voice.

John 10:27: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."

I most definitely followed his voice to this ministry of green pastures with a green pastor.

Isaiah 30:21:  "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."

God's voice will keep us on the right path and not let us wander to the right or left.

Jeremiah 33:3: "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."

God is saying He will answer us; He will pay attention to us, respond to us, give an account to us, announce to us.  And He will tell us great and hidden things that we have not been aware of or comprehended or discovered.  He is directing me towards ministering to my mother.  He will direct us toward his plan for us.  We must continue to seek and listen for His strong, firm voice. 

3.  Obedience

Once I heard Carol's voice, I was smart enough to know that I needed to obey her when she told me to get out of the truck.  From my experiences in the past, I know to obey when someone gives me a command in that tone of voice because I know it is for my protection.  I didn't understand the details at first, but I knew not to argue.   I couldn't engage her in a conversation on what she was talking about.  I couldn't turn around to look at what she was seeing.  I knew that I had to obey.

When God gives us requests, He expects us to obey.

Exodus 19:5: "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine."

1 Kings 3:14:  God was talking to Solomon and said "if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

John 14:21: "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13: "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. "

As Christians & Sons of God, we have no other choice but to obey God's requests of us.  It's not always easy or comfortable and it doesn't always make sense to us, but we know that He is always with us and always has our best interests in mind.  God is our greatest encourager!

4.  Action

I obeyed and took action by getting out of the truck.  However Carol's sighting of the snake & strong voice and my decision to obey her would not have made any difference in this situation if I had not taken any action.  Just because I had decided to obey the command did not mean that I would automatically jump out of the truck.  I had to physically move my body out of that truck.  I truly think that my spirit man actually took over at that point and moved me off of the truck.

After that, Mike and Carol also took action.  Mike caught the snake before it could hide again, and he flipped it out of the truck.  Then Carol attacked and chopped its head off.  

We could all have stood there and watched the snake crawl back into the yard debris, but what good would that have done?  We knew he was in there, and we knew we had to deal with the situation sooner or later.  That snake was not going back to Durham!  So action had to be taken.

Sometimes when God speaks to us, we might agree that his request would be a good idea, but it doesn't mean that we necessarily want to or will do it.  Lots of times the reason we come up with is that it doesn't make sense.  We can't figure out how God's request will come to fruition or we wonder why He would want us to do what He's asking us to do.  Nevertheless, we must make a decision to take action if we are to follow through on His requests.  Besides, we never know what God has in store for us when we take action.

Consider these Examples from scripture where different people took action:

- Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8:26-38; Philip was obedient and followed the directions of the angel; he joined the Ethiopian in the chariot, explained about Jesus, and then baptized him. 

- Luke 5:17-20 tells us of the lame man who took action by having his friends lower him from the roof into the house where Jesus was, and Jesus healed him.  He put action behind his faith. 

- Mark 5:25-34 describes the woman with the blood issue.  After 12 long years of suffering , spending all of her money on drs. and having the problem become worse, she was bold enough and faithful enough to take action.  She took action by pushing her way through the multitude of people and touching the hem of Jesus's clothes.  This action and her faith released her from this plague.

Remember:  we never know what God has in store for us when we take action on His requests.  Don't miss out on the blessings He has for us!

5.  The right tools. 

How about before we left Carol's house, Mike asked Carol to bring some tools along so she brought 2 shovels and a pitchfork to make it easier for us to clear out the truck!  Mike had brought a broom to sweep out the truck once the bulky debris was out, but he knew we needed more tools than that to make the job easier for us.  But we could so easily have not had those tools, thinking that all we needed was our hands to load the debris on the tarp and carry it to the yard waste bin.  God made certain that we had the right tools for the job.

Tool  = "a means to an end" (Webster); (verb) "to equip for production" (Webster)

- Didn't David have the right tools?  he picked the 5 smooth stones, which represented the 5-fold ministry, and used them as "a means to an end" in defeating Goliath.

- What about Moses - didn't he have the right tool?  It was his rod which he used as "a means to an end" in freeing the Israelites from Pharaoh and Egypt?

- Didn't Jesus have the right tools in his 2 hands which he used as "a means to an end" when he healed the sick by laying on his hands?  He had the power in His hands.

God gives us tools to use in our lives, and we may not even recognize them at first.  I had a very strict, grammar-focused 8th grade English teacher so I learned a lot about proper grammar and sentence structure.  But I never dreamed that I would be relying on those skills now to edit the GWM blog or books. 

In high school, one of the best classes I took was typing.  I took it to get a credit and because it was easy for me.  It has been the greatest skill for me to have in this day of computing. 

As we go through life and grasp new skills and abilities, we may not understand how they will benefit us in fulfilling God's plan for our lives, but God knows, and he is directing us to gain these skills and experiences.

These tools may not always be physical tools that we can see and touch and hold.  Apostle Burton recently told us about God's Benefit Package, which includes benefits that He has given us because we are Sons of God.   Benefits such as love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and healing.  He has also given us other tools such as wisdom,  power, discernment, joy, authority, boldness.  These are "tools" that we use every day to fight off the enemy, to comfort others, to lead others to know Christ.  We must continue to develop our skills that God has given us so that we will have the right tools for the right situation at the right time.

Yes, Carol, Mike and I survived the snake incident.  There are many people who would look at this situation in the natural and think that I was a lucky person not to have been bitten by the snake.  But the 3 of us choose to look at it in the spiritual, and thank God for providing what we needed to conquer this dangerous situation and turn it into a good result.

Let's re-look at the 2 scriptures read earlier:

Philippians 4:19:  "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus".

The Dakes Bible states that this is a promise from God.  Let me read this scripture again but interject the definitions of several of the words:

My God shall (will be able to or will have to) supply (replete, furnish, satisfy) all of your need (requirement or want) according to (to be consistent with) his riches (wealth/abundance) in glory (honor/praise/worship) by (with respect to) Christ Jesus.

The Revealing Word tells us that "Supply often fails to flow to one whose faith is fixed in some outer source instead of in substance. Anxiety about supply can be overcome by a recognition of the omnipresence of Spirit substance and the centering of faith in it as the one source of supply".

Scripture shares with us many examples of God's provisions for His people:

For Israel - In Deuteronomy 2:7, God told Moses that the Israelites had walked around the mountain long enough.  Moses says "These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing".

For the multitude that followed Christ - Matthew 14:20: "And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up the fragments that remained twelve baskets full".

Luke 22:35: "And he said unto them, 'When I sent you without purse, and script, and shoes, lacked ye any thing?' And they said, Nothing'."

God does provide for us.  In our experience, He made sure:

- through Mike that we had the right tools before leaving Carol's house;

- that Carol was in the right position to see the snake;

- that she gave me the command after she saw the snake;

- that I obeyed her and took action;

- that Mike and Carol took action to capture and kill the snake. 

God took care of us! 

Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose".

The Dakes Bible also marks this as a promise from God.

This scripture is telling us that we know (have understanding of; recognize as being the same as something previously known) that all things (events, circumstances, situations) work together (cooperate, help) for good (that which is godly in its character; certain to last; true) for them that love God, to them who are the called (appointed; those brought into action; summoned) according to (agree; reconcile; be consistent or in harmony) his purpose (intention; resolution).

So God not only provided for our needs  in that situation, but He also ensured that all things worked together for a good result.

One of God's names is Jehovah Jireh, which means "the Lord will provide".  Jireh is derived from the Hebrew word "Raah" pronounced RA-ah which means "to see".  It is translated as "provide".  So God is able to see the future, as well as the past and present, and anticipate and provide for what is needed.  The English word "provision" is made up of 2 Latin words that mean "to see before hand".  So when we pray to Jehovah Jireh, we are praying to the God who sees the situation beforehand and is able to provide for our needs.  Isn't that just what he did for Carol, Mike and me?  Isn't that what I explained in the beginning about the difference  between vision in the natural and vision in the spiritual?  In the natural, it is all about what we can physically see ahead of us.  But in the spiritual, it is about relying on God who is able to see the situation and provide for our needs.

So do you think that I had a lucky break that day?  We did not plan these events nor did God, but He had a plan to take care of us - His divine plan to provide for our needs and turn the situation into a good result.

Do you think it was coincidence that we had the right tools to use on that snake?  Do you think it was an accident that we had all of those tools on hand in when we found the snake?

NO!  It never was luck or coincidence; it was our all-knowing, all powerful, ever-present God, Jehovah Jireh, who knew what we were about to face in our task of hauling yard debris to the dump.  He already knew! 

As He promised, He made sure that we had all of the right tools - the correct tools - to handle the job. 

As He promised, God ensured that these things would work together for our good - the good of those who love Him and whom He has called for His purpose.

HE PROMISED, and because He promised, He will never fail us!!!!   

~ Deaconess Rachel West