The dictionary defines coincidence as “a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection.” We might think it a coincidence when we unexpectedly meet a friend while shopping. Or when something happens to me that prevents me from getting caught up in an accident.
The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about impaling Mordecai on the pole he had set up for him.
The sixth chapter of Esther describes what seems, on the surface, to be a coincidence. Haman, an honored official of the King, had come to request the death of Mordecai, Esther’s cousin. But the previous night, the king had been sleepless and, in his reading, had learned Mordecai had saved him from an assassination plot. So he chose to have one of his officials give him the honor he deserved. And that was when Haman entered the palace to ask for Mordecai’s death. And, to Haman’s horror, he ended up being the one to honor Mordecai. What a lucky coincidence.
But was this a coincidence? Or was it providence, God’s orchestrating behind the scenes to accomplish his purpose? I am convinced that, rather than a coincidence, this was an example of God’s providence at work in protecting Mordecai and the Jewish people.
I would not go so far as to claim everything that appears to be a coincidence is actually God’s providence. But this account demonstrates that God often works in unseen ways. How often does God, unknown to me, use me in a providential way to impact another person’s life? Or use that other person to accomplish his purpose in my life? I am thankful that God can use me, often despite myself, to achieve his purposes in this world.
