Coordinates (X, WHY?)

By F. D. Adkins

One evening back in 1995, I stopped at a Krystal fast-food restaurant to get my grandmother some of those little burgers she loved so much. As I pulled away from the drive-thru window, a handsome guy in another car motioned for me to roll down my window. We introduced ourselves and then went our own way. Several months later, I took a job with a credit union at local furniture manufacturing company. Well, guess who also worked there and came in to cash his paycheck. Yep. It was that handsome guy that I had met at Krystal’s a few months earlier.

Jumping ahead to the present year of 2022, I have been married to that handsome guy for twenty-four years, and we have an eighteen-year-old son and a fifteen-year-old daughter. So, was it merely a coincidence that we crossed paths in the parking lot of Krystal’s all those years ago and then just happened to end up working at the same place in the next town over from where we lived? Absolutely not. It was God’s providence that put us both in that parking lot at Krystal’s that day. It was God’s providence that made our paths cross again with our jobs. It was God’s providence because twenty-seven years later, I am more in love with that handsome guy than ever, and we are blessed with two amazing children.

As we go through life, we never know why we might end up in a certain place or meet a particular person. Look at some examples in the Bible.

• Was it a coincidence that Joseph’s father sent him to check on his brothers on that particular day? Was it a coincidence that those merchants just happened to pass, buy Joseph, and sell him to Potiphar? As we know, those events later put Joseph in a position to save his brothers.
• What about Esther? She was an orphaned Jewish girl who was raised by her uncle. She became queen and, because of her position, she was able to save the Jewish people. As Esther 4:14 explains, Esther’s position as queen was no coincidence. “…and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14 KJV).
• Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the king. In Nehemiah 1:11, as Nehemiah prays for God to use him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he recognizes that this position is not a coincidence. “O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.” (Nehemiah 1:11 KJV). Nehemiah says, “for I was the king’s cupbearer,” meaning Nehemiah’s position gives him the ability to ask the king for help.

God has a plan even if we don’t see it right away. I believe, as Christians, God has each of us exactly where He needs us to be. Sometimes, we all question where we are in life such as why we might be on a certain job or living in a certain place? But God knows. After all, Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV) says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

The important thing is that we glorify God wherever we are, and I believe He will take care of the rest.

“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.” Colossians 3:23 KJV.

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