In my devotions this morning, I was struck by...well, coincidence.  I was reading the account of Jesus' birth in Luke 2. It notes that a civil census required Mary and Joseph to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born.  It struck me that Luke doesn't record this as a fulfillment of prophecy.  But in Matthew's account of Jesus' birth, when the Magi inquire of the birthplace of the new king, Herod is told by the scribes that, according to prophecy, the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem.

Here is the point: It was not mere coincidence that Mary gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem.  Nor is there any indication that Mary or Joseph were told by the angel (or had learned/remembered from synagogue) that they had to get to Bethlehem in time for the Jesus the Christ's birth in order to fulfill prophecy.  If they had known or been told to do that, they surely wouldn't have waited till the ninth month of the pregnancy to make the difficult trip.  Rather, God orchestrated circumstances (the timing of a civil census) so that His prophecied will might be fulfilled.

The good news in this is that God is fully able to work even in apparent random circumstances to advance His good will in our lives.  Sound like Romans 8:28???