COINCIDENCE or DIVINE DESIGN?
Summer of 2015: I finished a project for one company, and on the way home I felt an inner urging to
go by and see a friend. When I got there,
he offered me a job. I didn’t have another job lined up yet, the timing was
perfect, and I started immediately.
People who don’t know better
might call this a coincidence. Did you know that in the Hebrew language
there isn’t even a word for coincidence? The Bible says we’re either walking by
the flesh or walking by the Spirit. Nothing happens by chance.
When we even have the slightest inkling to do
something, and it doesn’t go against what
the Bible says, then we are taking another step of faith along the good path
the Lord has for us. Walking by faith gets us to these special times I call
divine appointments.
Just like a doctor appointment, or the hairdresser or
any other type of appointment in the natural, we don’t want to be late. When
the appointments are set up by the Lord, they are going to be successful ones,
so we need to respond immediately.
My experience wasn’t earth-shattering,
but it did make a big difference in my
finances for that week, and that’s
important enough to me and to God.
When we pray for help in walking by the Spirit, and we
determine to be aware of the Lord’s guidance to us, (one author calls this
“God winks”), the results are always positive because the Lord Jesus
and his Father God always want the best for us. All Christians can walk by the
Spirit.
God gives us a great example in Simeon. He didn’t have
a degree or a title, and he was a pretty regular Jewish believer.
Luke 2:25 says, “There was a man whose name was Simeon; just and devout.” This verse tells me he was doing his best to be
a fair man and he was determined in his heart to follow God.
The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that before he died, he would get to see God’s Messiah. Then
on one ordinary day, “he came by the spirit into the temple” (Lk 2:27). There
it is! He came “by the spirit”—the Spirit of God gave him the idea to go to the
temple, he did it and met his godly appointment.
It was the exact day and time that Joseph and Mary
brought the young child Jesus to the temple! Simeon “took him up in his arms,
blessed God and said, ‘Lord now lettest thy servant
depart in peace, for my eyes have seen thy salvation’” (vv. 28-29). The Holy
Spirit inspired Simeon, and he went on to
give an awesome prophecy over Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus.
We don’t hear any more about this man Simeon, and in fact,
this happened near the end of his life here on earth. But I believe God had this
record put in the Bible so that we could learn how important and wonderful it
is to respond to the urgings of the Spirit.
For me, it increased my finances for the week. For Simeon,
it was how he got to meet Jesus face to face.
Galatians 5:25 says, “Let
us also walk in the Spirit.” And Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
We can pray, “Lord Jesus, help me to
walk by the Spirit today and delight in those divine appointments.”
Love, Carolyn
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