The Divine Appointment

One thing I learned on the first leg of our full-time traveling ministry (I actually learned a lot more than one thing but this one is what I'm writing about today) concerns “Divine Appointments”. I spent the first two months trying so hard to share the Gospel with anyone who would listen. I literally wore myself out mentally trying to witness. By the end of the first two months I was emotionally and spiritually drained. I was so frustrated at how many people would turn away God’s word and the confidence they had in doing so. I felt like I was at my wit’s end. I was praying for a “Divine appointment” from God, just someone to share the Gospel with. Finally, with less than seven days to go, God gave us a man to talk to, someone who wanted to hear. God answered that prayer through an unnamed, homeless, veteran. We talked a long while and my wife and I gave him tracts and a new Bible and we went away knowing God had ordained and anointed that meeting, a Divine Appointment.

I was excited! And with less than a few days to go before leaving the area I began praying for another one. And when we got down to our last day I was getting disappointed. The day before we were to pack up and move on we decided to drive down to the beach and spend a couple hours just sitting in the sun watching the waves. I watched the Pelicans for a while as they glided along the waves and then they would swoop up and turn and dive into the water. I watched them for some time and began to ponder the intricacies of God’s creation. I was relaxing for the first time in two months. I began a little conversation in my head with God. I thought about Jesus going up into the mountain alone to pray all night before announcing His chosen twelve in Luke 6:12. I thought about what it must have been like to spend all night in the wilderness talking with God. Then I heard a voice say “This is it”. I finally realized, this was my divine appointment. God just wanted to spend some quality time with me. I felt like a complete idiot. Not only had I been missing the answer to my prayer, but I had been missing the most important Divine Appointment I could ever have. I was missing a Divine Appointment with my Creator, my Savior, my friend and my God! I could sense that for two months God had been trying to get me to stop trying so hard to prove my status as a Missionary/Evangelist and just fellowship with Him for a while. No wonder I was so exhausted.

Of course all that reminds me of the story of the sisters Martha and Mary. Martha was working her rear off trying to be a good hostess and wanting everything to be just right. And all the time Mary was sitting in the living-room with the men just listening to Jesus. And I feel like His response to Martha’s frustration must be similar to His response to my “vanity of vanities”. She demanded that Mary stop sitting around and help her. Then Jesus told her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41, 42 NASB). It is a lesson we would all do well to learn. Yes, spending time serving God in whatever ministry we feel called to is an important thing. But the most important thing we can do (after we have been born-again) is to spend some quality time with our Lord. If we neglect such an important appointment we can count on our ministry not being as fruitful as we would like. And we can count on our ministry becoming more of a chore than a blessing. So take some time to just find a quiet spot and fellowship with our God. It will do you a great deal of good.

Be blessed my friends,

Rev. W. S. Caplinger C.E.