One of the most powerful realizations I’ve had in my time immersed in Scripture is that no one in the Bible lived in isolation. No story stands alone. Every person, every event, every encounter is connected to something before it—and something after it. I believe God shows us this on purpose. No life—Biblical or not—is lived in isolation. It may sound trite, but it's true: We are all connected.

Take Levi, the tax collector.

“After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.” —Luke 5:27–28 (NIV)

Levi wasn't just a piece of scenery with no personality, no family, no past. He had lived a life. Things had happened to him. Some good, some bad. People had said things to him. Some good, some bad. He had been born to specific parents, at a specific time, in a specific place. He had friends, he had enemies. He had been taught, disciplined, encouraged, and put down. All of these things—and many others—conspired together to lead him to specific choices—which led him to a specific place at a specific time—when Jesus would be walking past his tax office. And at the perfect time, Jesus looked at him and said, “Follow me.” When Levi looked into the eyes of the One calling him, he saw the purpose that he didn't even know he had been looking for. And in an instant, he knew he had to follow.

Think about Zacchaeus.

“So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.” —Luke 19:4 (NIV)

But that tree didn’t just happen to be there. It had to be planted. It had to grow. It had to be protected from storms and drought and disease. It had to be protected from grazing livestock and marching armies. Long before Zacchaeus ever climbed it, God was preparing it.

That’s how God works. He plants trees decades before we need them. He sets different lives on specific paths so that they will intersect at the perfect time. He sets things in motion long before we realize we’re part of the plan.

Zacchaeus had a divine appointment with Jesus. And he needed a Sycamore tree to keep it. So God appointed a tree.

God's plan is like an intricate spider web that we will never untangle. Only He knows the purpose of every intersection. Every detour. Every encounter.

While it seemed terribly inconvenient to me, my time of isolation was exactly what I needed to experience the changes God accomplished during that time. He showed me that the most meaningful distance between two points is rarely a straight line.

Your life is not a series of disconnected moments. Every joy, every sorrow, every delay, every detour—it’s all being woven into something greater than you can imagine.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. —Romans 8:28

That verse doesn’t mean everything is good. It means everything is used. Nothing is wasted. Not the pain. Not the waiting. Not the questions.