Frustrating Delays or Divine Appointments?

The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well is one of my favorite parts of the life of Jesus. In John 4:4, we read that Jesus "had" to go through Samaria. If you were a Jewish person in Jesus' day and you were travelling north from Judea to Galilee, you would bypass the land of Samaria. But Jesus "had" to go through Samaria. Why? Because God had orchestrated the life of one lonely and sinful woman so that she would be at the right place at the right time to rub shoulders with the right person. The place would be a well. The time would be high noon. The person would be Jesus.

That is what I call a "Divine Appointment." A "Divine Appointment" is when God orchestrates your life and another person's life so that you both end up at the same place at the same time so that you rub shoulders and interact with each other in order to meet them right where they are and help move them to where He wants them to be.

I believe that God still orchestrates "Divine Appointments" even today in your life and my life. The problem is that most of us don't even notice what God has so perfectly orchestrated. I wonder how many times God has orchestrated my life and another person's life so that we end up in the same place at the same time so that I can have a spiritual touch in their lives? It wouldn't surprise me if it happens most every day and I just miss it.

How do you know when God is setting up a "Divine Appointment?" Chances are good that these times of orchestration usually involve your schedule getting altered or your plans getting delayed. What kind of feelings do you experience when your plans get interrupted? What emotions do you feel when you get delayed? If you're like me, most of the time when this happens you get frustrated, maybe even a bit angry.

But what if that interruption or that delay was really God at work orchestrating your life to get you at the right place at the right time to meet the right person? What if at the same time you were experiencing these "problems" another person's life was also being similarly orchestrated so that you both end up at the same place at the same time so you could make a touch in their life that had eternal dividends? What if your interruptions and delays were really the beginnings of a "Divine Appointment?"

Suddenly delays and interruptions just got very exciting!!