Sermon

You Thought It Was Coincidence… But It Was Jesus

✍ System Import · March 13, 2026
Light & Faith Revival Church

You Thought It Was Coincidence… But It Was Jesus

By System Import
You Thought It Was Coincidence… But It Was Jesus

We have all had those moments. You miss a green light, are delayed by a few minutes, and then drive past a terrible accident that would have happened to you if you had been on time. You are desperately needing a specific amount of money for a bill, and an unexpected refund check for that exact amount arrives in the mail. You run into an old friend in a grocery store in a city neither of you lives in, just when you needed encouragement the most. We shake our heads and say, "What a crazy coincidence." We brush it off as luck, chance, or serendipity. We chalk it up to the randomness of the universe. But what if I told you that "coincidence" is not a word in God's vocabulary? What if the random events of your life are actually the precise, calculated movements of a Sovereign King who is obsessed with the details of your existence? And before we dive in, if this message is already stirring something in you, hit the subscribe button and stay connected to God's Word daily, because you need to know that you are being watched over, guided, and loved in ways you cannot even see.

The Bible presents a worldview that is radically different from our modern, secular understanding of "chance." In the Hebrew Scriptures, the concept of "luck" is virtually non-existent. Instead, we see a God who is intimately involved in the falling of a sparrow, the casting of a lot, and the numbering of hairs on a head. When we attribute the miracles of timing and provision in our lives to "coincidence," we are actually robbing God of His glory. We are failing to recognize the fingerprints of the Father. We are living as spiritual orphans who think we are navigating a chaotic world alone, when in reality, we are children being led by an invisible hand.

To call it coincidence is to remain blind to the mystery of Providence. Providence is the doctrine that God is actively preserving, governing, and directing all things to their appointed end. It means that nothing is an accident. Your parents were not an accident. Your location is not an accident. The delays, the detours, the closed doors, and the sudden open windows—they are all part of a Master Plan. Today, we are going to put on a new set of glasses. We are going to look at seven biblical examples where things looked like random chance but were actually the strategic movements of God. We are going to learn how to spot Jesus in the "coincidences" of your life, so you can stop calling it luck and start calling it Grace.

Number 1: The "Hap" of Ruth — Being in the Right Field at the Right Time

The book of Ruth gives us one of the most profound examples of divine orchestration disguised as random chance. Ruth is a Moabite widow, a foreigner, destitute and desperate. She has returned to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law, Naomi, and they are starving. Ruth decides to go out and glean in the fields—picking up the leftover grain that the harvesters missed. It was a needle-in-a-haystack situation. There were many fields in Bethlehem. She could have gone to a field owned by a cruel man who would have driven her away or abused her.

But the Bible says in Ruth 2:3, "So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek." The phrase "as it turned out" in the original Hebrew is miqreh. It literally means "her hap happened." It sounds like "by chance" or "by accident." It reads as if she was just walking along, blindfolded, and randomly stumbled into a specific plot of land.

But we know the rest of the story. Boaz was not just any landowner; he was a "Kinsman-Redeemer." He was a wealthy relative who had the legal right to marry her, buy back her family's land, and save her lineage. Because she "happened" to land in that specific field, she met Boaz, they married, and they had a son named Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David. Ruth became the great-grandmother of King David and a direct ancestor of Jesus Christ.

If she had turned left instead of right that morning, the lineage of the Messiah would have been disrupted. Was it luck? Was it a "hap"? No. It was the invisible hand of God guiding the feet of a faithful woman. The "coincidence" of the field was the hinge upon which history turned. In your life, the job you "stumbled" into, the person you "randomly" met, the house you "found" just in time—these are not accidents. You are walking in fields that have been prepared for you. God is directing your steps even when you think you are just wandering. He is positioning you for redemption.

Number 2: The Insomnia of a King — How God Uses Sleepless Nights

Sometimes, the "coincidence" is as mundane as a bad night's sleep. In the book of Esther, the Jewish people are facing a death sentence. The wicked Haman has tricked King Xerxes into signing a decree to annihilate the Jews. Haman has even built a gallows specifically to hang Mordecai, the Jewish leader. It is the night before Haman plans to ask the King for Mordecai's head. The timing is critical. If Haman gets to the King first, Mordecai dies, and the Jews are lost.

But "on that night the king could not sleep" (Esther 6:1). Just a random bout of insomnia. And because he couldn't sleep, he didn't ask for music or wine; he asked for the "book of the chronicles" to be read to him. Of all the thousands of records, the servant "happened" to open to the page that recorded how Mordecai had saved the king's life from an assassination plot years earlier. The King asks, "What honor has been given to Mordecai for this?" The servant answers, "Nothing."

At that exact moment, Haman walks into the court to ask for Mordecai's death. The King asks Haman, "What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?" Haman, in his arrogance, thinks the King means him, so he suggests a royal parade. The King says, "Great! Go do that for Mordecai." Haman is forced to honor the man he wanted to kill. The tables turn completely, all because a King couldn't sleep and a servant opened a book to a specific page.

You thought your insomnia was just stress. You thought that delay was just bureaucracy. You thought that "forgotten" file on your boss's desk was a mistake. But God uses the sleepless nights of kings to save His people. He uses administrative delays to set up divine reversals. The timing of the King reading that record wasn't coincidence; it was the precise, surgical intervention of God. God controls the sleep of your enemies and the memories of those in power. He can bring your name up in rooms you aren't even in, at the exact moment it needs to be heard.

Number 3: The Divine Delay — When Being Late Saves Your Life

We often view delays as the enemy attacking us, or just bad luck. We get stuck in traffic, we miss the flight, the meeting gets cancelled. We get frustrated. We bang on the steering wheel. But Jesus often uses delays as a form of protective coincidence.

In John 11, Jesus hears that his friend Lazarus is sick. It is urgent. But "when he heard this, he stayed where he was two more days." He intentionally delayed. To the disciples, and certainly to Mary and Martha, this looked like a disaster. It looked like negligence. When Jesus finally arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Martha said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." She thought it was a timing error.

But the delay was the setup for a greater glory. If Jesus had arrived on time, he would have healed a sick man—a miracle, yes. But by arriving "late," He raised a dead man—a resurrection. The delay allowed the situation to become impossible so that the power of God could be undeniable.

Think about the "coincidences" of delay in your life. The job offer that didn't come through, only for the company to go bankrupt six months later. The relationship that didn't work out, only for you to realize later how toxic it was. The traffic jam that made you miss the accident ahead. We call it "bad luck" in the moment, but in hindsight, we see it was Jesus holding us back. He controls the clock. When you are delayed, do not panic. You are not running behind; you are walking in His timing. The "coincidence" of the closed door is often the proof of His protection.

Number 4: The Intersection in the Desert — Philip and the Eunuch

In Acts chapter 8, we see a coincidence that defies all geographical logic. Philip is in Samaria, having a massive revival. People are getting saved, healed, and delivered. It is the place to be. And suddenly, an angel tells Philip, "Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."

This makes no sense. Leave the revival to go to a desert road? But Philip obeys. He goes to the middle of nowhere. And just as he arrives, a chariot comes by carrying an Ethiopian Eunuch, a high official of the queen of Ethiopia. This man "happens" to be reading the book of Isaiah. And he "happens" to be reading Isaiah 53, a prophecy about Jesus. And he "happens" to be stuck on a verse he doesn't understand.

Philip runs up to the chariot right at that moment. The Eunuch asks, "Who is the prophet talking about?" Philip uses that very verse to preach Jesus to him. The man gets saved and baptized, and takes the Gospel down to Africa.

What are the odds? That Philip would leave a revival, walk to a desert, and intersect with a specific chariot at the exact second the man was reading the exact verse that needed explaining? It is mathematically impossible. It was a Divine Appointment.

You have these moments. You sit next to a stranger on a plane who starts crying. You run into someone at a coffee shop who needs exactly what you have to give. You click on a video (like this one) at the exact moment you were ready to give up. These are not random collisions of atoms. These are the choreography of the Holy Spirit. God is moving people like chess pieces to ensure that the Gospel gets to the right heart at the right time. Your "random" encounters are holy assignments.

Number 5: The Provision in the Fish’s Mouth — God’s Weird Math

Sometimes, the "coincidence" is financial. It is the provision that comes from the weirdest, most unexpected place right when the bill is due. In Matthew 17, the temple tax collectors come to Peter and ask if Jesus pays the tax. It’s an awkward moment. They need money. Jesus uses this as a teaching moment, but then He tells Peter how to get the money.

He says, "Go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours." (Matthew 17:27).

Think about the sequence of events required for this to happen. Someone had to drop a coin in the lake. A specific fish had to see the coin, mistake it for food, and swallow it—but not swallow it all the way, keeping it in its mouth. That fish had to swim around with a coin in its mouth without spitting it out. Then, Peter had to throw his hook into the vast Sea of Galilee. That specific fish had to bite Peter’s hook. And it had to be the first fish he caught.

We would call that a "one in a billion" chance. Jesus calls it Father's provision. It teaches us that God is not limited to your paycheck. He is not limited to the economy. He can use a fish, a raven (Elijah), a widow (Elisha), or a tax refund to sustain you. When the money shows up at the exact moment you need it, do not call it "lucky." Call it Jehovah Jireh. It is Jesus showing you that He rules over the natural world to meet your supernatural needs. He coordinates the chaos of the sea to bless one obedient fisherman.

Number 6: The Chain Reaction of Joseph — When Bad Things Connect for Good

Perhaps the greatest example of "coincidence" over a lifetime is the story of Joseph. When we look at the individual events of his life, they look like tragedy and bad luck. He "happened" to be sent to check on his brothers when they were angry. He "happened" to be sold to Potiphar. He "happened" to catch the eye of a lying woman. He "happened" to be thrown into the prison where the King's cupbearer was held.

Years later, when Joseph is the Prime Minister of Egypt and saving the world from famine, he looks back at the chain reaction. He sees that if one link had been broken—if he hadn't been sold, if he hadn't been arrested, if the cupbearer hadn't forgotten him for two years—he would not have been in position to save his family and the lineage of the Messiah.

He tells his brothers in Genesis 50:20, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done." He realized that the coincidences of evil were actually the providence of God. God hijacked the enemy's plans.

You may look at your life and see a string of bad luck. You lost the job. You went through the divorce. You had the illness. But you are only looking at the middle of the story. You don't see how God is connecting that pain to a future palace. You don't see how that rejection steered you toward your destiny. What you call "random tragedy," God calls "strategic positioning." He is weaving the dark threads into a tapestry of glory. Nothing is wasted. The chain reaction is under His command.

Number 7: The Shepherd’s Algorithm — How He Found You

The final and most personal "coincidence" is your own salvation. Think about how you came to know Jesus. Think about the series of events that had to happen for you to hear the Gospel and for your heart to be soft enough to receive it.

Maybe you "happened" to meet a Christian friend in college. Maybe you "happened" to turn on the radio to a sermon. Maybe you "happened" to hit rock bottom on a night when someone was there to pray for you. Jesus tells the parable of the Lost Sheep. The Shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to go find the one. He doesn't just wander around hoping to bump into the sheep. He hunts for it. He tracks it.

Your salvation was not a coincidence. It was a search and rescue mission. The Holy Spirit orchestrated your parents, your friends, your failures, your geography, and your timing to corner you with His love. He set up divine ambushes of grace. He closed every other door until you had to walk through His. If you look back, you will see a trail of breadcrumbs that leads straight to the Cross.

You didn't find Jesus; He found you. The fact that you are saved, that you love Him, that you are reading this right now, is the ultimate proof that God controls the variables of the universe to save the ones He loves. It wasn't an accident. It was an appointment from before the foundation of the world.

Conclusion

So, look at your life again. Look at the "chance" meetings. Look at the delays. Look at the strange provisions. Look at the painful detours. Stop calling them coincidences. Stop giving the glory to "luck" or "the universe."

We have seen the Harvest of Ruth, proving God guides our feet. We have seen the Insomnia of the King, proving God controls the timing. We have seen the Delay of Lazarus, proving God's waiting is working.

We have seen the Intersection of Philip, proving God arranges divine appointments. We have seen the Coin in the Fish, proving God provides from unexpected places. We have seen the Chain Reaction of Joseph, proving God redeems our suffering. And we have seen the Shepherd's Search, proving God orchestrated your salvation.

It was never coincidence. It was always Jesus. It was always His hand, His heart, and His plan. You are not a leaf blowing in the wind; you are an arrow flying toward a target. Trust the Archer. The same God who orchestrated your past is holding your future.

Before you go, make sure to subscribe, like this video, and share it with someone who needs encouragement today. And join us next time as we uncover another powerful truth from God's Word.