There are no accidents with God

                         

     Have you ever had an experience where you seemed to be at the right place at the right time and think that you were really lucky or fortunate? Well, you might have been surprised by the unplanned situation, but God is never surprised. Things don’t just happen with God, everything happens in His perfect plan. God says in Jeremiah;

 

        For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Jer. 29:11 (ESV)

         

        Our plans are not his plans; God has plans for all He knew would accept Him even before we were born. God told Jeremiah;

 

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”  Jer. 1:5 (ESV)

 

And in Proverbs, it says;

 

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.           Prov 19:21 (ESV)

 

 

      Even things that seem at random to us, even to the prophet Samuel who is believed to be the author of the book of Ruth, are planned by God. Samuel writes;

 

And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.” So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech. And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.” Then Boaz said to his young man who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”   Ruth 2:2-5 (ESV)

 

    Ruth didn’t just happen to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, nor did Boaz just happen to notice her. They may not have planned it, but the whole story of Ruth, from her husband and father-in-law dying and her staying with her mother-in-law Naomi, to her going to the field and meeting and marrying Boaz, was all planned by God. God knew Ruth would accept Him, even though she was a Moabite, before she was born and had plans for her. What were God’s plans? We find this in Matthew in the genealogy of Jesus;

 

   and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,  and Jesse the father of David the king.   Matt 1:5-6 (ESV)

  

     God had plans for Ruth, she would be the Great-grandmother of King David, in whose line Christ would come. It didn’t happen by accident. Ruth was just looking for a field to get some grain from so they could eat. God’s law was that once a field was harvested by the workers, anything missed was to be left for the poor, workers were not to go back and harvest anything missed. Ruth was looking for a field owned by someone who was adhering to God’s law and “happened” to come to the field owned by Boaz. But it was God’s plan all along for her to meet Boaz. The circumstances that lead her there were all planned by God.

    We can see the same thing happening in Acts;

 

After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta.  The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him healed him. And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured.  They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.         Acts 28:1-10 (ESV)

 

A lot of things in these passages seem to have just happened. First, Paul was on a ship for Rome that “happened” to sink in a storm off Malta. Next Paul “happened” to get bitten by a viper. Then, the father of the ruler of the island “happened” to get sick while they were there and Paul was able to heal him. This was all God’s plan for Paul to spread the gospel to the people of Malta, and all the things that just “happened” were planned by God to help spread his message.

 

   Nothing is left to chance with God.

 

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.  Prov 16:33 (ESV)

 

So remember, when things seem out of control and aren’t going as you have planned, trust in the Lord, nothing catches Him by surprise, it’s all His plan, be ready to follow it.