“And the Lord appointed………(Exodus 9:5)
When we think of appointments, I’m sure our minds automatically go to the ones that fill our calendars. But in God’s timetable, appointments mean something entirely different. In the spiritual realm appointments represent who or what God ordains to fulfill a sacred purpose. Like the Old Testament priests (Exodus 24:1), earthly authorities (Romans 13:1), and leaders in the church (I Corinthians 12:28). Even the number of days we have on this earth are appointed by God (Hebrews 9:27). In fact, Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us that there is “an appointed time for everything.”
There once was a man in the bible who did not want to obey God. I know, there are a slew of people who don’t want to obey God, but this particular guy got an entire book in the Old Testament named after him for his disobedience. I figure that tells us we need to heed what happened to him. His experience was unusual in the fact that he didn’t just get a reprimand from God for his rebellion; he got an entire turn-his-world-upside-down experience for his defiance.
You have probably guessed by now that his name was Jonah. Jonah was commanded by God to get up and go proclaim God’s judgment against the city of Nineveh. And what did Jonah do? Well, he got up – good start – but then he ran in the opposite direction. You know the rest of the story. Jonah ended up hiding on a ship. After a big storm hit, the ship’s crew figured the guy was a liability, so they threw him overboard. Along came a big fish who swallowed him. The fish thought he tasted repulsive and spit him out.
Jonah finally ended up going to Nineveh, where a great revival took place. But that made Jonah angry. Did this guy have an attitude problem or what! So, Jonah went and plopped himself down under a makeshift shelter to wallow in his self-pity. Suddenly a large leafy plant, a worm, and a scorching east wind appeared in Jonah’s environment. This made him an even worse emotional wreck, and he wanted to die. But God had a plan. He used these things to teach the unlikely prophet a lesson or two about His great mercy.
Now here is the interesting thing about the account of Jonah. The Hebrew tells us that God “appointed” that big fish. It also tells us that He “appointed” that plant, that worm, and that east wind as well. Same as God appointed the priests in the Old Testament. Same as he appoints authorities, church leaders, the times of life and death, and everything else in his sovereign plan.
My friends, everything in our lives; the good, the bad, the joys, the sorrows, the problems, the victories and defeats, the wounds, the rejections, the losses, the past…..all things are appointed by God for the perfection of our faith, our calling, our God-given destiny. In the end, that which we thought were problems, will be revealed as the appointed ministers of God, ordained to guide our life. Maybe we should stop fighting all the things in our lives that we don’t like and begin embracing the lessons God wants to teach us from them. It might keep us from becoming bait for some big fish out there.
Darlene