Obstacle or opportunity, you choose.

     We often come into situations where we can be an obstacle or an opportunity to those around us and even to God.  It isn't that we necessarily plot to become either, but it still occurs and we are all left with the resulting consequences.  Sometimes we are called to be an obstacle.  Sometimes we are called to be an opportunity.  They come and go in my life.  There are choices I have made contrary to the norm and been okay with being an obstacle.  There are also choices I have made that God uses to have an opportunity in reaching someone or many.  Life throws curves our way.  They are intended to keep us off balance and ineffective.  I've been there too!  As I survey the Old Testament and New I am keenly aware that I'm not alone.  Many Christians before me and believers in the Old Testament have had the same situations as I have had. How we interact and react to the obstacle or opportunity is indicative of where our faith is and how much we truly do believe that God allows all things for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.  Seeing my world and the world around me where I live and breathe is essential in assessing whether I'm following God, self or the devil.  There are no other choices.  When I choose to put my faith in God despite seeing things as an obstacle, I place that obstacle in God's hands and try to leave it alone.  This gives God the opportunity to use my surrendered self to bring the Gospel where he wants it proclaimed.
     I have been an obstacle to so many in my life both before and after being saved by the grace of God.  For this I am repentant and determined to daily lay down my life.  Sometimes I am successful and sometimes I am not.  I chose the word "repentant" intentionally.  When we acknowledge that we have been an obstacle to God's grace and mercy and ask for forgiveness, we have only gone half way.  It's a great start.  But, without repentance there is the open door to once again go there and do that not having learned the lessons that make us effective Christians in the first place.  It isn't surprising that God takes my being an obstacle and turns it into an opportunity.  My plan A is not his plan A on any number of occasions.  When I choose to go in a different direction than God intends I sin.  Well, that was simple!  But I get ahead of myself.  What do we do to know the opportunity is from God?  For beginners there is a need to being not just in the Word but making it an integral part of our lives.  Rather than memorizing sports statistics one should memorize the Scripture.  That would give you and I a foot up on where we go next.  After reading the Word there is the need for us to live the Word.  For the Christian that means dying to self.  That's a hard one.  Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit we would be lost.  Listening is next.  Being quiet before God in order to hear his voice.  So, be in the Word, pray, surrender and listen.  Sounds simple doesn't it.
     Knowing myself as I do I know that I have problems both thrown at me by the enemy and brought about by my own choices.  Many times I have been unable to see the hand of God in an opportunity and thought of it as an obstacle.  Focus on what is important becomes essential to being an opportunity.  I don't know the answer to all the why questions.  Neither do you.  I don't understand why bad things happen to good people.  Neither do you.  It's still a mystery why some things in my life have taken place.  Neither do you.  We don't know each other's story in such a way that we can judge at any level.  What we do know is that we can have such an intimate relationship with God that what happens negative doesn't bother us.  Why?  Because we know that all things work for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.  That's why!  Believing that His will comes about by our faith even when we don't understand takes us from being an obstacle to being an opportunity.  Should I give a list of those who have gone through this from the Bible the list would be so long that you'd be reading for months.  This applies to all.  No one is immune from the process and the will of God whether it seems to be an obstacle or an opportunity.  Relying on a faithful God who knows the end of every story is a good place to start.  Remember that it's always your choice.