Talking hold of God provided opportunities........
I’m not sure how many of you have ever visited Pompeii but I’ve been a couple of times and every time you visit you can’t help but notice the roads as they are quite distinct with their lava rock blocks and kerbs but most interesting are the ruts that are in the roads.
On the larger roads, two vehicles, usually waggons, could pass with two-way traffic if they stayed on their respective sides of the road... I can't imagine they had copies of the Highway Code, but there had to be some rules. Nonetheless, you can see the ruts that the iron-covered wheels have cut into the road, roads that were just wide enough to ensure that each cart ran in the rut of the cart before it, forming the ruts.
On the narrower roads, it was common practise to physically cut ruts into the road to ensure the carts stayed in the centre of the road and didn't catch on the kerbs... in fact it was quite difficult to get your cartwheels to go anywhere apart from the ruts…and sometimes we too can find it difficult to go anywhere apart from the ruts…we get stuck in a routine much like those of the Romans of up and down the roads and, along with everyone else, we’re stuck in a rut.
Being stuck in a rut usually means that people are doing the same thing over and over again with little hope of progress or development. There are various aspects of our lives in which we are stuck in a rut and at various times in our lives....sometimes it's work life, sometimes it's home life, sometimes it's church life, and occasionally it's in relationships when we don't seem to make any progress and we don't seem to be growing or discovering more about each other. Sometimes it's our prayer life when find ourselves repeating familiar phrases, it’s not that we pray the same prayers repeatedly, but rather because the situations that require prayer do not change dramatically in our lives. It's at this point that we can get stuck uttering the same old phrases and our time in prayer doesn’t always seem as exciting as we think it should.
As we get older things being to look different, and many of us have been alive more years than we have left.
Someone once said, “inside every old person is a young person asking…what happened??”
Do you ever have plans for the day and then get to the end of it and feel frustrated and maybe even somewhat angry with yourself? You had a plan and intentions that seemed doable, but you didn’t do much of what you planned, and to be honest, you're not truly persuaded that what you actually did was what you wanted to do in the first place!! Sure, you were busy all day, but all you can remember doing are scrappy pieces of things and probably whatever seemed the most urgent at the time. You are reluctantly forced to admit you don’t recall finishing anything significant.
I’m unsure if that’s being stuck in a rut or simply bad planning but all you know is that you complain a lot about your busy schedule and perhaps that’s a sign that some changes are needed.
Sometimes we get stuck because we don't give our entire attention to what God is saying or what God is doing…or to what he wants us to do….how often do we say and tell people that God has a plan for your life?
Matthew 6:34 from the Message Bible (paraphrased) reads:
34 "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
500 years before Jesus came the rabbis wrote in the Talmud and they wrote about Jewish history, law, customs, and culture and how these things could be applied in life….it was a practical instruction book.
One of the things that were said was “If not now then when”
And John Lewis a civil right activist in USA has a quote of:
"If not us then who….if not now then when?"
….in other words, use the moment God has given you.
Did you ever read Alice in wonderland?
Listen to this conversation between Alice and the Cheshire Cat
Alice “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
We’re all going to get somewhere, but where are we going to get to…that’s the question.
We’re all moving through time but where is it going to end up?
Perhaps you’ve never given your life to Jesus…so where are you going to end up?
And if you have.. where are you going to end up? What are you doing with the time God has given you?
Time truly is the most valuable commodity because you cannot buy time.
One of our jobs is to get where God wants us to be, because it's not only God who has a plan for our lives...Satan has a plan for our lives as well!!!...they’re very different plans with very different outcomes….we need to know that we’re fully locked into what God wants for us.
We only get one shot at life, and once it's gone, it's gone.
Too many times have I squandered my time on things I thought would be profitable, only to discover that the 2 hours here or 3 hours there that I spent would never be seen again, all because it appeared to be profitable at the time.
We need to learn to grab opportunities that God provides for us…Esther is a great example of this.
If you don’t know the story, I advise you to read the book of Esther but a quick outline:
The King of Persia was Xerxes who 3 years into his reign held a 6-month long party, asking his queen Vashti to come and dance at the end.
She refused…Xerxes was furious and consequently divorced her as she had embarrassed him. Basically, he was drunk and wanted to show off his wife and have her dance and parade for the other drunken leaders…it didn’t end well.....sometimes doing the right thing doesn’t.
Xerxes searches for a new queen and marries Esther, a Jewess.
Esther was cared for by her cousin Mordecai, but Haman, a minister of Xerxes, hatches a plot to wipe out the Jews, and Mordecai asks Esther to go and speak to Xerxes to reveal the plot, but Esther is forbidden by law to go and see Xerxes unless she has been summoned.
Her only escape from this law that threatens her life is for Xerxes to extend the golden sceptre towards her. Esther explains this to Mordecai who says she will not escape the annihilation of the Jews if the plot succeeds so she will die in any case…..this is her chance to grab an opportunity that God provides….which she does after fasting and praying.
Here we see a plot to destroy a people and there is still a plot to destroy a people…Satan is real, and Jesus is alive, Jesus said the thief comes only to steal kill and destroy. People out there don’t see it, they read the same newspapers and listen to the same news we do and see everything that is going wrong…but people don’t see that Satan is there…well he’s not going to advertise himself is he…thieves don’t work like that….they don’t pop round and tell you they’ll be breaking in next week…and contrary to popular belief they do not wear striped jumpers, masks, or carry a bag labelled SWAG…they operate under the radar, and that is how Satan operates...under the radar. Satan steals and destroys things without people realising it; they don't realise they're being robbed... Satan is a cunning thief who steals health, hope, peace, purity, and destroys people... and people don't realise it.... people allow themselves to be robbed.
So where are we at this moment…are we stuck in a rut or are we looking at a fantastic opportunity…or are we frightened?
Some people stay in a rut because it is comfortable, others because they're frightened of getting out….frightened they may clip the kerb so they stay in the ruts that have been chiselled out for them…ostensibly to protect them but also to contain them.
You know, if you are ever going to do anything in life there is always a risk…always a chance it will go wrong.
There is always a risk doing anything quality in life…for example, falling in love, if you want to find love and be loved, there is always a risk…why, because you can get hurt…in fact, it's inevitable that you will get hurt when you love someone because we’re all imperfect…it is a risk but we need to get out of the rut and seize the day.
So are we living on memories or are we a risk-takers? I know which sounds safer and as you get older you perhaps want safer…or just want to stay in your rut…safe in your cart that can’t come up the kerb and off the road.
Surely if we want to be risk-takers it indicates that we have some faith…after all, why would you need faith if you don’t take a risk. Jesus talks of taking a risk when he talks about talents…anytime you invest anything, time, money, resources you take a risk…getting married…you take a risk…driving test…a risk you may fail, exams, a risk you’ll fail….faith is the evidence of things not seen.
Don’t join and commit to a church it's risky, don't give your money, it's risky.
You know you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take…what do they say….it isn’t that they failed…they never even tried.
We have some funny sayings…I’m just killing time for one…don’t kill it, use it.
Perhaps as we get older we should be warier, I’m not sure how old Esther was but she certainly was younger than me…but depending on our age we may never get another shot to do some of the things that God wants us to do?
What was it Matthew said:
v34 "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
If we focus our attention on the opportunities that God provides us now, He will assist us in dealing with whatever happens as we move forward; we just need to avoid getting too worked up about what might happen.
Moses spent 40 years being a shepherd, a nice safe if a somewhat boring job, same sand, same views, only the sheep changed. Then one day he saw the burning bush and he took a chance and we, along with millions of people stand here today affected because he got out of his rut, and he seized the day and bought God's people out of Egypt.
Esther stepped forward risking death to save a nation.
If we are ever given an opportunity by God to do something that has an element of risk…lets purpose ourselves to be Esther's and Moses’s and get out of our ruts and sieze the day and if we make a mistake and we do something that we shouldn't have done out of enthusiasm I believe God will block it from going further.
Bartimaeus was blind and spent much of his time sitting by the road.....that was his rut, and it looked like an inescapable situation but when he heard Jesus was in town he took the initiative and cried out to Jesus "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me" He purposed to call out to Jesus to save him, sometimes it's safe and secure to stay in our rut...but at some point we have to say...I'm moving on.
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