God is the Great Engineer, creating circumstances to bring about moments in our lives of divine importance, leading us to divine appointments. Oswald Chambers
There is deep truth residing in this beautiful quote, and it serves as an important reminder for all of us. For indeed, God can and does lead us to just the right place at just the right time to accomplish many things, in accordance with His will.
This divine direction carries manifold purposes: God may use intervening moments in order to save ourselves, or to rescue others–spiritually or physically. He may also use epiphany-filled moments to teach us important truths relevant to our struggles, in order to grow and strengthen our faith. Perhaps He leans in close to bring comfort and assurance in the disappointments and loss that life inevitably brings our way. However, we are able to take courage and to be of good cheer because life isn’t one grand obstacle course–it’s a carefully orchestrated and directed path. Our task is to recognize it; to understand that God is with us in every moment of our life. One of the great attributes of God is His omnipresence, meaning He is present everywhere at all times. There is nothing that escapes His notice.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those that love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
As our opening quote points out, in working all things together for good, He sometimes places us in divine settings, for a divine purpose. This is God’s calling. We simply need to avail ourselves to Him.
Making ourselves available to God, willing to respond in those moments we sense direction from the Holy Spirit, holds the opportunity for us to participate in holy encounters. We ourselves are prone to waste opportunities, for we are human. However, God wastes nothing. He is able to engage and enable us at any moment. He can use anything and anyone to accomplish His divine will–including the likes of you and me! He has plans for us that far exceed our expectations and our ability to know things in advance.
I once heard a pastor differentiating between the terms ability vs availability. Making ourselves “available” does not necessarily mean we are “able” in some masterful way to perform a certain task. If we will only make ourselves available unto God and His purposes, then God, together with the Holy Spirit, will do the equipping! I have experienced this on numerous occasions as I have sought to serve God through various roles of volunteer ministry, and I am confident that you have experienced this type of equipping as well. It is not us, but God working through us, that allows us to accomplish the task at hand.
Sometimes, the callings of God go deeper. They can be marked with a sense of divine urging. Something outside of yourself breaks in, shattering your thought stream and you feel compelled to follow through on that sense of urgency.
Other times, it’s in the reflecting back upon an event that you become acutely aware you were put there for a reason. Initially, it seemed like such a random, ordinary day, but then something happened and you realize that something much, much greater was at work.
I want to share just one such example of something that happened to me a few years back. I was on my way to a mid-morning doctor’s appointment. As I was winding my way down the parkway that leads out of our neighborhood, I saw something in the grassy median a short distance ahead. Instinctively, I knew it was a small child, but my reasoning said it couldn’t possibly be, someone’s dog must have gotten loose. My first instinct was correct.
There, just a matter of yards from an incredibly large and busy commercial intersection–including merging traffic from interstate ramps–was a precious little girl of about three years old, I guessed. She was just standing there, wide-eyed and frozen to the spot. I approached her very carefully, reassuring her as best I could. She allowed me to pick her up and secure her in my car. Fortunately, there was a state police precinct just a few blocks away.
Needless to say, I cancelled that doctor’s appointment and for the next few hours or so I just held her in my lap while officers tried to locate where and to whom she belonged. They were calling nearby daycare centers and putting out alerts for other precincts in case someone called in. Eventually, someone did call, but they had to approach with caution–hard to say how or what she escaped from. I wanted to ride along until she was able to see a familiar face, but they wouldn’t allow it. She never spoke a single word. She never even cried. She may not have understood a word I was saying (her hair and coloring indicated English may not have been her first language) but I hoped and prayed that gentle tones and arms full of care communicated some kind of comfort.
As I reflected back on my experience that day, I was so grateful to God that she didn’t make it to that dangerous intersection, or that someone with less than good intentions picked her up before I did. It was around ten in the morning when I had left for my appointment, so work traffic had already left the neighborhood. No telling though, how long she had been there.
Was this of God? Was this a “divine appointment” that placed me at that very spot, at precisely the right time that day? Knowing God, I am entirely convinced that He is capable of what our opening quote calls, “creating the circumstance”, to effect an outcome. That appointment I was heading to was a reschedule. Had I been able to make the original appointment, I never would have been there that fateful morning when a small child went missing. Sometimes God detains us for a reason.
God is the Alpha, the Omega, and everything in between. He can orchestrate any situation He chooses. He knows what we cannot possibly know; He sees what we cannot see. God has the ability to occupy any event, and we would do well to give Him entrance. While many might view this event as merely coincidental, I choose to believe in the high probability that a greater purpose was at work that day.
This is not meant to take away from our everyday moments that can be filled with awestruck wonder at the power of God. We both treasure and tremble at the intimate poetry He writes upon our hearts as we seek to serve Him daily. Our personal journey is sacred space, it is holy ground. It is best explained as a humbled rejoicing, uttered in whispered hallelujah’s. However…
As He continues to guide us along the path He has chosen for us to walk, expect to be dazzled at times with His plan along the way!
How great is our God…