In general, I think we have a different understanding of whether God still speaks directly to us. I believe that direct, verbal (that is with words) communication is closed. If, for some reason God were to speak, I don’t think there’d be any question about what was said or what it meant.
Additionally, I find the subjectivity of human reception so varied, that it would be nearly impossible to claim a valid interpretation of any synchronicity, so that one could actually make much use of it. I am by nature skeptical in these ways and regularly see reason to maintain that position.
My understanding of the nature of Scripture is quite different from what you expressed: that it tells us how to be saved. There is much more there. The Westminster Confession gives a good nutshell summary:
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.
With this in mind, I don’t feel the need to seek for any specific communication from God beyond this, and I don’t believe that it is really possible.
That being said, I am greatly encouraged in my faith by all sorts of things outside of Scripture, but do not seek them so much as appreciate what I can. Nature and good conversation with others are two things that really “speak” to me. You can find some examples I recently shared over here.
I think we are using the term “synchronicity” in the same or very similar ways. I see it as attempting to connect co-incidents in a meaningful way that may also imply causation, or a ontologically higher level cause that unites two or more co-incidents.
The most heinous examples I can give of interpretations of
synchronicity related to suffering are:
- The poor are always (mostly, often) responsible for their grinding poverty, and therefore the Church gets a pass on doing anything meaningful about the situation, including dealing with the human or systemic causes farther up the chain.
- A horrible natural disaster is God’s judgement on [fill in the group seen currently as most sinful by whatever church group is speaking]
- ______ person’s horrible death is a result of their own or their family’s sin.
- ______ person’s survival of a horrible illness/accident/whatever is a result of their own or someone else’s godliness.
- ______ person’s turbulent or fraught behavior/attitude during a period of suffering is an indication of a lack of faith or righteousness.
That’s a start.
One might be inclined to say, “Those are not synchronicities, but cause and effect relationships.” But if one looks closely, there are a number of factors that “converge” in each of these examples and I have provided the horrible interpretations.