Exploring the Fine Line Between Coincidence and Miracle

What Is the Difference Between Coincidence and Miracle?

There can be times in our lives where we experience miracles. Other times we experience events that make us believe in coincidences rather than those events as having a deeper meaning. What exactly is the difference between a coincidence and a miracle? Sometimes, it can seem like an event in life was both a miracle and a coincidence, and sometimes, it is one over the other. 

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a “miracle” is defined as: “an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs.” It can be something that happens that you know can’t be anything but God working. 

“Coincidence” is defined as “the occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection,” according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 

It can be hard to differentiate what is happening in our lives and whether it is a miracle or a coincidence. A miracle is considered something, such as being diagnosed with an illness without hope of recovery, and then the next day, you are doing a lot better despite the doctors’ reports. 

A coincidence is considered when two people have the same birthday and they have never met because it isn’t necessarily rare that two people share the same birthday. 

Sometimes determining that something is a miracle can be obvious because it goes beyond the laws of nature and anything that a human could do. Only God has the power to make it happen. It can also be easy to determine that it’s a coincidence when there is a probability that something will happen. 

However, it also depends on the perspective of the person experiencing a miracle or a coincidence. 

Those who are unbelievers or individuals that don’t necessarily believe in miracles may think that “miracles” are just the universe making them lucky, or that they did something and the miracle occurred, or they may just think that it is a coincidence. They will try to explain the miracle by science, but they will fall short on their scientific explanation.

For those who are Christian and believers, it may be easier to believe in miracles because as believers we believe that God is always working things out for us and protecting us. He promotes us to see things that we may not even recognize at the moment. 

As believers, it is easy to believe that miracles are possible especially because there is evidence of miracles in the Bible. 

In John 2, Jesus performs his first miracle; turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana in Galilee. 

Today, it is impossible to turn water into wine in a short amount of time like Jesus did, and is considered nothing but a miracle. 

A miracle is an event that has no scientific explanation or possibility of it ever occurring while a coincidence is an event where there was a possibility of it occurring.