"Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it." Hebrews 13:2 NIV
Some of you may be familiar with the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26-40. There is so much in this passage of scripture, but I want to focus on God's prompt for both Philip and for the eunuch for the divine appointment that God had set up for them. First, God tells Philip to walk along a certain road. Philip doesn't ask why, he just obeys. If we want God to involve us in His appointments, we must obey without question. Then God points out the eunuch to Philip and tells him to go to him. Again we have unquestioning obedience. It just so happens that the enunuch is reading aloud from the scriptures, but not just any scripture; it is from Isaiah 53:7 and 8. It is about Jesus. Finally, God knows Philip is sensitive to the Holy Spirit so it doesn't take much prompting to get him to initiate conversation: "Do you understand what you are reading?" When the the eunuch says he needs someone to explain the passage to him. The rest is history.
Why don't we see more divine appointments? It is not that they aren't there, so maybe it is that we are not prepared. We are told in Hebrews to always be ready to show the character of Christ, as we may find ourselves entertaining angels unawares. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 4:2 to be prepared to handle any situation we are in with a message from scripture. If we are focused on ourselves, all we will have is missed opportunities.
Recently I was with a brother at a Peets Coffee and a woman walked by our table and saw a brochure in my possession that had the word "Bible" on it. She was prompted to stop and ask us if we were Christians. We told her that we were and I asked her if she needed prayer. She did. She asked us to pray for her husband and children that they would go to church. So we prayed with her and discovered that she was a believer that needed encouragement. I thought about this and thought about what would have happened if we weren't there, if I didn't have the brochure with me stratigically placed on the table, if she hadn't been there at that time. This is a divine appointment. I think more such appointments would happen if we would just be more focused on the Lord and be more selfless individuals. We need to be prepared and always asking God, "How can I serve you today, even right now."
Pray: "Heavenly Father, please help us to always be ready to entertain angels and to show someone the way to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ."