Numbers 13:33 NKJV
33 There we saw the [a]giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like[b] grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Thomas Edison said that “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” And I might add, opportunity sometimes presents itself as a crisis or problem.
Think about the children of Israel, they had been slaves in Egypt for over 400 years. God through Moses reminds them of the promises he made to Abraham their father and with great signs and wonders he brings them out of Egypt in one night. Pharaoh tries to pursue them but does does another miracle, he parts the sea and they walk on dry ground, think about being able to experience something like that. God feeds them daily in the wilderness and he leads them with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.
Finally they come to the edge of the land of promise and Moses sends out the scouts who come back and confirm that indeed, the land is flowing with milk and honey but there is a HUGE PROBLEM! The land also has giants! For 10 out of the 12 spies, they looked like grasshoppers in their own sight while for 2, Joshua and Caleb, they believed that the God who had seen them through all this time, would give them the victory.
Well, we know how the story ended, they allowed fear to take over and they failed to enter. That whole generation apart from Joshua and Caleb died in the wilderness.
How many opportunities do we miss out on because they came dressed in the wrong clothes? We see the opportunity but instead we focus on the giants in the land and we start giving excuses like, I don’t have the qualifications, I do not know anyone who can push my issues, No one in my family has ever done that, plus so many others reasons we give.
Think about this, God took them out of Egypt so that he could usher them into the land of milk and honey but they ended up dying in the wilderness, not because God had changed his mind but because they saw their opportunity as a crisis. Could you be blaming God yet he gave you an opportunity that you missed because you only saw the crisis.
Reflections
Are there opportunities that you have missed because all you saw was a crisis? What happened?
Read the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. What lessons about fear, missed opportunities and crisis can you learn?
How should you tackle fear when you see an opportunity dressed as a crisis?
