Last summer, my sister in law Julie told us how she and several others had been brainstorming on how to get new folks to visit their church. This church is in a rural community, but many people travel the road the church sits on. So they came up with an idea: they would grill hot dogs and offer them to people who drove past. On the appointed day, a woman stopped by and told them that she had just come from her doctor, where she had learned that she has cancer. Julie and the group encouraged her about God's faithfulness and offered to pray for her and she willingly conceded. Afterwards, she told them that she knew how God had led her to that moment. We sometimes call encounters like these "divine appointments." Has something like this happened to you? Let’s listen to a passage from the Psalms that helps us understand these special moments:

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. (Psalms 37:23-24 NLT)

A New Testament account of a divine appointment where God directs the steps of the godly occurs in Acts Chapter 8. Luke writes of an encounter Philip had with an Ethiopian man who was traveling by carriage. The man was reading from the Book of Isaiah and the Holy Spirit urged Philip to walk beside the carriage. He heard the man reading aloud and asked if he understood it. He responded that he needed explanation and invited Philip to join him. The passage was this: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The Bible tells us that beginning with this passage, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus. As they rode along, they came to some water, and the man stopped the carriage and Philip baptized him. What an amazing encounter! Today's passage tells us that God truly watches over every detail in the lives of godly people. He orders, arranges, and establishes our lives, including those unexpected, divine appointments. You and I often experience changes of plans, sometimes unwelcome ones. We have, delays, changes, or redirections. We often see them as intrusions or problems, but sometimes God is altering our plans so He is the one directing our steps. Think back over the course of your life for those encounters with people or changes in your plans that led you into situations that you wouldn't have otherwise experienced.

Today, thank God for the way He has interrupted your life, changing your plans and redirecting your steps. God changes your plans so that He can direct you into the life that He has planned for you...and that's such very Good News!