Missing God's Appointments

Don't you feel disappointed sometimes when you miss what seems like a divine appointment? And this seemingly heaven-sent opportunity or meeting has "God's hands" all over it--it's exactly everything you've been praying for, you feel that you're heart is beating twice as fast when you first hear about it. Your mind and heart are both screaming, "This is it!" Until you realize there's one--just one--thing that makes you not fit/available for it, and your "whole world" falls into a ruble. Sounds familiar?

Let me guess--many times, you've experienced the "This is it!" moment, and all of a sudden, the open door shuts right in your face. Now you're afraid that the next time a door opens, you might not make it on time to get through the door; or you beat yourself up for not waiting around long enough for the right door to open. Is it really possible to miss God's appointments for you life?

You wanna know what I think? The truth is I really don't know. As much as I know how all-knowing and all-powerful He is, I am not Him and I won't be able to tell you how exactly His awesome mind is wired. But here are a few points that I can share with you so you'll know that though we might miss God's appointments, His appointments will not miss us.

• God knows the perfect timing - Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, wrote in Ecclesiastes: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:... He has made everything beautiful in its time. (Ecc. 3:1,11a) God told Habakkuk: For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. (Hab. 2:3) Guess what, when God sets an appointment, He makes sure that the timing is perfect. There are two possible concerns that we may raise here: How can one might prematurely run after God's appointment OR how can one be late for it? This is simple: Seek God first (1 Kings 22:5, 2 Chronicles 18:4, Matthew 6:33). 

• God knows you and exactly what is going on in your life - Do you want to know how all-knowing and ever-present God is in your life? This one's pretty much self-explanatory after reading what David wrote in Psalm 139 on that. By the end of this, I'm sure you can trust that He knows what's going on:

•  God's plans are good, pleasing and perfect - God told Jeremiah, For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jer. 29:11). He also told Isaiah, As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Is. 55:9) Paul wrote to the Roman church: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom. 12:2) If we know that God's plans are good, pleasing and perfect, won't it be easier to just trust His ways and plans than ours?

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 

You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 

Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:1-12)