PASTOR’S CORNER: The right place at the right time

A nursing convention was being held at a hotel when a guest experienced a heart attack in the lobby. Immediately, more than two dozen caregivers came to his side and worked to keep him alive. The guest was incredibly grateful for all the nurses who were at the right place at the right time.

We don’t understand why things happen sometimes. “Why me… why now?” is the question that haunts us when the unexpected happens. If the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, as Psalm 37:23–24 says, then sometimes God will order us into certain places to carry out His will and plan. We never know why delays happen; we never know why we are redirected to go in another direction, why some doors close, why some plans are derailed, or why we find ourselves in places we didn’t plan to go. God knows how to rearrange our lives—even when we don’t understand.

Community, we’re thankful for the angels that God sent our way, for the dangers that were headed our way but God diverted, for the accident that happened at the same time we would have been there. For the time we were right there to bless somebody who needed a favor. Even Jesus went out of His way to go through Samaria because a woman there needed to be saved (John 4). And then, some of us were blessed because we were in the right place at the right time—to receive a blessing or to give one. All of us are purposed. Every last one of us was put here for a reason—not by happenstance, circumstance, or accident, but by divine appointment.

There are no accidents when it comes to God. God has a place for all of us—to be where we need to be to bless somebody, and to be blessed by somebody. God created all of us for a specific purpose. When He designed us, He had a plan in mind (Jeremiah 1:5). Our question should be, “Am I living out God’s purpose for my life?” “Am I doing what He put me here to do?”

We hear people say, “I’m trying to find my place in life.” They go from job to job, they try different careers, they get more education, they accumulate material things, and they get consumed by the almighty dollar — like having a lot of money gives them purpose. What about celebrities who get married 4, 5, 6, or 7 times? Every time they fall in love with somebody, they make vows and get married — not considering the vows they made the previous six times and did not keep.

A lot of times we just don’t know what that purpose is. But if we allow God to be God in our lives—if we would just present or yield our bodies to God as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1), forget about our way and what we want to do—then God will carry out His divine purpose in our lives, and we will be so happy and content. And He will do it at the right place and at the right time!

Think about your husband or wife whom you met and love. If you believe they are the one God gave you, think about how you met and the circumstances surrounding it. You may have been introduced by somebody, met on the job, maybe at church, or fell in love in high school. You know when it was and how it was. But if it was ordained by God—if it was orchestrated by Him—in other words, God set you up! And when God sets you up, you don’t need seven marriages to be content and fulfilled!

If we would just allow God to be God in our lives, let Him take control, God will give us our soul mate and we will be perfectly content. Community, I am perfectly content this morning. I am perfectly fulfilled this morning, because I know that I am living out God’s purpose in my life—doing what I was put here in this world to do. God orchestrated it. I am completely satisfied with whom I married these many years — and one marriage! Because if I had time, I could tell you how we were in the right place at the right time, and we are living out God’s purpose through each other.

Community friends, if you want to be fulfilled in life—if you are looking for the perfect mate for you, somebody that you can love and who will love you just for who you are—then just let God be God in your life. Wait on the Lord, put Him first in your life. Don’t settle for anything less than what God wants you to have. Sometimes God has to put us in place to carry out His purpose for us. Haman wanted to destroy all the Jews in the kingdom of Ahasuerus (Esther 3:13), but God had Esther as queen in the right place at the right time to save the Jews (Esther 7:1–10).

Community, God will put us in the right place at the right time—to bless somebody, to witness to somebody, to save somebody. And He’s got your blessing waiting for you at the right place and the right time. To somebody who’s been waiting—it’s on the way! Serve the Lord, wait on the Lord. Don’t worry, don’t lose sleep. Just be faithful. At the right time, in the right place, your blessing is on the way!