Opportunities in disguise
June 15th, 2009 by kike
Years ago, I read a book which had a phrase somewhere between its pages which stated that “opportunity once lost can never be regained”. However, not many people know what opportunities are or how to recognise them when they present themselves.
I have been mentoring a particular friend in the area of her career for a few months now. Over this weekend, she gave me a telephone call enquiring if she should take up a job transfer offerd to her by her boss. The organisation this lady works for has other branches across the country and she had been offered the opportunity of going on secondment to one of them. My friend was offended and this puzzled me as my understanding from our previous discussions had indicated that she would not mind a change of office environment. My friend then explained to me that the reason for her negative reaction to the offer was because some colleagues had informed her that the unit her boss was sending her to is challenging and the work quite enormous.
When challenges come your way how do you respond to them? Do you see them as problems or opportunities? From my experience, opportunities do not present themselves as one. They are not easily spotted and sometimes can be off putting. The scenario I gave above could be an opportunity in disguise. The fact that others had given my friend a negative report about the unit does not mean that she would not be able to overcome the challenges.
As children of God, we need to pray that God should help us spot the opportunities that are embedded in our challenges, failures, and weaknesses. I believe all things work for good for God’s children according to Romans 8:28. If we can have this mindset, our lives will be much better and we would react to situations differently. What you need to understand is that those things you have spent your years praying about could be wrapped up in that ugly situation that has presented itself. Let us look at a few people in the bible who saw opportunities and embraced them.
David was a Shepard boy and the youngest of eight brothers, but when there was war between the Philistines andthe children Israel, Goliath challenged the Israelites to a fight. David saw this as an opportunity to make a boast of what God can do and therefore put himself forward to the challenge of facing Goliath. God honoured David’s faith, which led to Goliath’s defeat. David’s story did not end there because he later became one of the greatest kings in Israel.
Joseph was another man who saw opportunity and seized it when it presented itself to him. Having been imprisoned for an offence he did not commit, Joseph did not allow this setback take his gift from him because while in prison, he interpreted dreams for other inmates. It was this gift in Joseph that later brought him before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The king had a dream but no one to interpret it. To cut a long story short, Joseph interpreted the dream and was later made to the Prime Minister of Egypt. What would have happened if Joseph had not interpreted the kings dream?
There are countless examples of people in the bible for us to learn from. When a challenge comes your way, always try to see the possibilities of that challenge and not the negative side of things. This is the only way you can have a clearer picture of what has come your way. We therefore need to pray that God should open the eyes of our understanding according to Ephesians 1:18. As you go into this week, let your prayer be that God should open your eyes to see the opportunities around you, even if they present themselves as the worst challenge you have ever faced. God bless you.
And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. Genesis 21: 19a
