God’s Intervention Is Never Random

Why does God sometimes step in, rescuing someone from danger, healing a body, sparing a life, or redirecting a disastrous choice?

Scripture consistently shows us that when God saves, He saves with intention. In the Bible, “salvation” doesn’t only mean forgiveness of sins; it also means rescue, healing, deliverance, and preservation. God pulls people back from the edge not simply so they can survive but so they can live out what He designed them for.

This truth invites a deeper question:

If God intervened in my life, what was He protecting me for—not just from?

Remembering What God Has Done Fuels Purpose

Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly commands His people to remember.

Not because He forgets, but because we do.

When we remember God’s past interventions, gratitude is stirred. But biblical gratitude is never passive. It matures into trust, obedience, and action. Forgetting leads to fear and complacency; remembering leads to faith and movement.

Israel’s spiritual decline often began the moment they stopped remembering God’s works. But when they remembered, through songs, stories, and testimony, their faith was reignited.

Gratitude anchors us.
Remembrance strengthens us.
Purpose propels us forward.

Biblical Examples: Saved For Something

God’s pattern is remarkably consistent.

  • Moses was spared as a baby in the Nile, not just to live, but to deliver an entire nation from slavery.
  • Joseph was preserved through betrayal, prison, and injustice so he could save many lives during famine.
  • Hezekiah was healed from terminal illness, and God added years to his life, not aimlessly, but to lead and reform Judah.
  • Blind man healed by Jesus wasn’t healed because of past sin or merit, Jesus said it was “so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
  • Paul the Apostle was saved from spiritual death and later from physical danger repeatedly, not for comfort, but so he could carry the gospel to the nations.

God didn’t just rescue them.
He redeployed them.

God’s Protection Includes What We Never Saw

Some rescues are dramatic.
Others are invisible.

Many times, God shields us from danger without ever alerting us that danger was near. Accidents avoided, wrong turns delayed, decisions disrupted, we may never know how close we came.

That reality calls for a deeper posture of praise:

We should express our gratitude not only for the things we recall, but also for the silent interventions of God.

My Story

Today, I am able to write these blogs because of something miraculous that happened many years ago.

I was in the seventh grade at the time, a grade I actually enjoyed, especially because we focused heavily on math and science. I still enjoy science today, but math? Ever since a brain-melting geometry experience, not so much.

Back then, I lived in an apartment building in Hoboken, New Jersey, on the third floor. The building had an incredibly smooth banister system that ran from the fifth floor all the way down to the first. Naturally, all the boys in the building avoided the stairs whenever possible. Why wouldn’t we? We could get outside in record time by gliding down the banisters. For me, running out of my apartment and opening the door to the street took less than ten seconds.

One Monday morning, I woke up to get ready for school and glanced at the clock—only to realize I was very late. Panic mode activated. I rushed through everything at lightning speed: brushing my teeth, throwing on the first pants and shirt I could find, and heading out the door. I don’t even remember if I ate breakfast that morning, though knowing me, I probably did. I never messed with missing breakfast.

When I opened the apartment door, you can probably guess what I was about to do.

Yep, fly down the banisters and either break a speed record… or maybe a leg.

Just as I was about to build momentum, I heard a voice shout, “Stop! Look at your nails!”

That voice stopped me dead in my tracks.

It was the strangest command I had ever heard. It wasn’t my parents; they were still asleep. It wasn’t anyone else in the building. There was no one around. Still, I did what any confused seventh-grade boy would do: I stared at my fingernails with the most perplexed expression imaginable.

As I stood there, I slowly stepped down the first stair… then the second…

And suddenly—BAM!

It sounded like something had exploded near the building.

I ran down the stairs, and as I opened the exit door, I heard a scream. It was my mother, looking out the window at the devastating scene that had just unfolded.

Let me back up and explain what happened.

That week, construction workers were doing major work on Washington Street. Large machines filled the block, and the street was blocked off from incoming traffic. That morning, a driver, very likely intoxicated, was speeding down Washington Street. When he reached the blocked area, he swerved to avoid the signs, jumped onto the sidewalk, lost control of the car, and slammed directly into the entrance of our building.

The concrete staircase leading into our apartment building collapsed, crashing down onto the car and into the basement level.

I should have been part of that accident.

If it hadn’t been for the voice that stopped me from flying down those stairs, I would have been crushed by the collapsing concrete. Instead, I opened the door, calmed my screaming mother, jumped over the rubble, looked at the bleeding driver trapped inside the car, and ran to school.

And here’s the twist.

When I arrived at school, certain I was late, I walked into an empty classroom and found my teacher sitting quietly at his desk. He looked at me, noticed my heavy breathing from sprinting all the way there, and said calmly,

“I guess you forgot to turn your clocks back for daylight savings.”

God does not do anything without a purpose.

To this day, I thank God for that moment, for instructing me to look at my nails, for saving me from a tragic accident, and for the countless other times His providence has protected my life. Who am I to deserve such mercy?

My prayer is that I have fulfilled, or am still fulfilling, the purpose He preserved my life for.

I wasn’t just stopped from running down those stairs.
I was paused by God’s voice.

That interruption wasn’t random.
It was protective.
And it was purposeful.

God didn’t merely save me from collapsing concrete, He preserved my life so that decades later I could write, lead, worship, create, and testify to His faithfulness.

The smallest instruction, “Look at your nails”, became the difference between life and death.

And the quiet detail at the end?
I wasn’t even late.

God handled everything.

From Gratitude to Obedience

The most important shift happens here:

Gratitude asks, “How can I thank God?”
Purpose asks, “How should I live because He saved me?”

When God intervenes, the biblical response is:

  • Praise
  • Thanksgiving
  • Trust
  • Obedience

Deliverance turns survivors into servants.
Rescue turns testimony into mission.

A Question for the Reader

What has God protected you from, seen or unseen?
What has He healed, provided, or rescued you through?

And just as important:

How has your gratitude shaped the way you live today?

God does not save accidentally.
If He intervened, there is a reason.