Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Usually when I need to see someone, or they need to see me, we’ll check our calendars. Then we’ll make an appointment. Later, we’ll get together for whatever the topic is. This practice helps organize our time … keeping us from overloading our schedules with too many things to do and not enough time to do them. But sometimes things happen. The schedule gets adjusted by unexpected visitors. Some might call these unexpected visits “interruptions.” I’ve learned, by the grace of God, to call them “divine appointments” – meetings God has set up to either help me or for me to be used by Him to help someone else. I treasure divine appointments.

God works through His divine appointment book.  Abraham was among the first to receive such an appointment when God called him to be the father of His people (Genesis 12). And this wasn’t the last of Abraham’s appointments with God. I imagine it was a hot summer day in what’s now the country of Israel as Abraham relaxed after a hard workday. Suddenly three guys show up unexpectedly from out of nowhere. Another divine appointment. Rather than get frustrated that his schedule has been busted by these visitors, Abraham stopped what he was doing to tend to their needs. He made sure his guests were comfortable, had plenty of food and drink, and listened to what they had to say. In this divine appointment, God let Abraham and Sarah, an elderly couple well past the age when they’d receive their first Social Security check, know some very good news … they’re finally going to be parents! (Genesis 18:1-14) It’s a good thing they didn’t ignore this divine appointment.

The divine appointments between God and His people continued. Over two thousand years later, a young girl named Mary had one. Mary stopped what she was doing and listened to her visitor, the angel Gabriel. He told Mary she’d be the mother of God’s only Son, Jesus – the Savior of God’s creation.

And the divine appointments continue today. We may not have the Angel of the Lord appearing at our front door … or Gabriel coming to our house as we’re watching our favorite show or reading a book. But God shows up in our lives through divine appointments throughout our lives. When we keep our appointment to come into God’s house for worship, God comes into our presence through His Word and Holy Communion. When we keep our appointments during the week, God comes into our presence as we study His Word in our daily devotions and our prayers. In these appointments, He may cause us to think of someone we haven’t thought of in ages … or maybe an image bothers us by hanging around our minds as we study and pray. These could very well be follow-up divine appointments God is calling us to make with Him. He uses prayer and His Word to schedule our time to do His will in the world – acting as His hands and feet – or to receive His corrective love. We receive His blessing to serve those He calls us to serve … or to be served by those He puts into our lives in His divine appointments.

                                                                                    In the Love of Christ,

                                                                                    Pastor Jim