The Lord God appointed a little plant and caused it to grow up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to rescue him from his misery. Now Jonah was very delighted about the little plant. Jonah 4:6, NET

Have you ever experienced a divine appointment -- a moment when you recognized the timing of certain events was much more than coincidental but providential?  A friend I deeply respect lives under the conviction that God has divine appointments waiting for us every day, and his daily prayers for them are answered in inspiring ways.  But what if divine appointments aren't just limited to serendipitously timed encounters?  Reading through the book of Jonah in my devotions this week, I've been reminded that divine appointments aren't only about God's timing for me but about God's redemptive plans for me and even through me as well. 

Throughout the story of Jonah, we find that God is in the business of divinely appointing certain things for saving purposes.  The term here refers to God's action of preparing, providing, even sending in a careful and calculated way.  Consider the great fish that the LORD "appointed" to save (albeit by swallowing) Jonah from the stormy sea (Jnh. 2:1, ESV).  Then in chapter 4, we read of a little plant God "appointed" to "rescue" Jonah from his misery (4:6, NET).  But God didn't stop with a great fish or a little plant.  He even "appointed" a worm and a scorching wind (4:7, 8) all for the sake of redeeming Jonah out of his selfish displeasure about God's grace to the Ninevites.

If God appointed a fish, a plant, a worm, and a wind to rescue hardhearted Jonah, then surely the LORD has sent you and me to have a saving influence on others around us.

We may not always feel like we play a grand part in His plans.  We may not always be certain about our effectiveness or endurance in doing good for others.  But if we have been saved by grace, we can be confident that "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."  May God give us courage to walk in this sense of calling.  May we daily trust our Creator to prepare and send us in careful, divinely calculated ways for others' salvation.