Obstacles

Obstacles are a part of life. How we approach them and our feelings about them, determines how much the obstacle will impact us. Obstacles come in different sizes, making some easier to overcome, while others seem like impossible situations. 

Lately, it seems I am surrounded by obstacles. I recently started college, after spending the past 25 years raising my kids and taking care of my family and it hasn't been easy. I expected it to be hard, however, obstacles. I did not expect, popped up around me. I looked at each obstacle as a challenge and asked myself how bad do I want this dream? 

I feel like this season of obstacles is not just for me but for others who are contending for Kingdom things. Each obstacle placed in front of us is for a purpose. If the enemy put the obstacle there, he did so to stop us. Look at the story of Joseph; His brothers had sold him into slavery; years later they were reunited and after the death of their father, his brothers were still afraid that Joseph was holding a grudge against them. Joseph wasn't holding a grudge though and said to them in Genesis 50:20, "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people." Joseph had to go through many obstacle to get to that place of authority but God took each obstacle, which was meant to harm him, and turned it into good. God can use the obstacles of the enemy to build our faith, for if we have "faith the size of a mustard seed, we will say, 'move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20) When we overcome the obstacle, it makes us stronger and the enemy weaker.

Sometimes, God is the one placing the obstacle in our way. In the book of Hosea the Lord tells him to "take yourself a wife of harlotry" (Hosea 1:2) In chapter 2, God speaks to the prophet about His unfaithful people, using Hosea's wife as an example, "Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and wall her in, so she cannot find her paths. She will chase her lovers, but not overtake them; yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband,' In this story God blocked the path of the unfaithful to get them to change course and lead them back to Him. 

God can also use obstacle to build our endurance and strength. Just like running a marathon takes endurance, an obstacle course, not only takes endurance, but strength and determination. Romans 5:3-4 states, "we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance character; and character, hope." When we are face with obstacle and trials God can take those and produce character within us that reflects Him. 

Another way God can use the obstacle in our lives is to teach that He doesn't intend for us to do things alone. Many obstacles take more than one person to overcome and it is at those time that we reach out to one another for help. Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone?Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. and a threefold cord is not easily broken"

Whatever the source of the obstacle it will still slow you down but it doesn't have to stop you.

As I look at each obstacle, I can choose to get discouraged and fall into the "woe is me" trap, or I can choose to press on. There is a little known verse in Jeremiah 12:5 : "If you run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with the horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan."

 I choose to contend with greater things and therefore I must press on, through, over, or around the obstacles placed in front of me.