HIS NAME IS NOT COINCIDENCE

At the end of the seven years she came back from the land of the Philistines and went to the king to beg for her house and land. The king was talking to Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, and had said, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.” Just as Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son Elisha had brought back to life came to beg the king for her house and land. Gehazi said, “This is the woman, my lord the king, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.” The king asked the woman about it, and she told him. Then he assigned an official to her case and said to him, “Give back everything that belonged to her, including all the income form her land from the day she left the country until now.” 2 Kings 8:3-6 (NIV)

After the widow’s son was raised from the dead, God led her to a safe place for seven years while a famine ravaged her homeland. She returned, planning to beg and grovel before the King, asking that her old property be returned. She hoped for justice but had no assurance it would be granted. She had been gone a long time and had no one to plead her case for her. Somehow she gathered the courage to approach the king. I can imagine her desperate prayers for deliverance.

This passage plainly says that she entered the King’s court at the exact moment Gehazi was telling about her son’s resurrection from the dead. The king was eager to hear the miraculous details. Afterwards, he assigned an official to her case and gave back all she had lost, including income from her land while she was out of the country. Mere coincidence?

This unnamed woman represents you. You find yourself in a tight spot but in the nick of time, the situation changes and disaster is averted. Your future balances on the head of a pin and can fall either way, but as you hold your breath and whisper a desperate prayer, a miracle averts disaster. The biopsy is negative, the loan goes through, the baby is born healthy, last minute changes keep you off the flight that crashes, the judge rules in your favor, at the final second the truck swerves back into its lane. You are spared from disaster through a series of events beyond your control. Is it coincidence or did God answer your prayers and work a miracle in your life?

We’re quick to blame God when things go wrong and forget about all the times He rescues us. Today, think back to those moments when a “coincidence” changed the direction of your life. Thank Him. Give Him the credit for sparing you and answering your prayers. After all, His name is not coincidence.