Last month while reading the book of Jeremiah God slammed me with Jeremiah 46:17…
Pharaoh was a leader…he had potential…but for some reason he MISSED his opportunity.
It wasn’t that the opportunity wasn’t there…it was that he missed it. AND…the same thing CAN happen to us if we are not careful.
I began thinking about why we, as leaders, miss opportunities…here are a few reasons.
#1 - Laziness - Opportunities require action…period. Some leaders get so wrapped up in the way things are that they never even consider additional opportunities because doing so would require effort. (See Jeremiah 48:10!)
#2 - Fear - God never gives us the complete picture…He never says, “Do this and this…and if you do then I will do this and this and you will live happily ever after.” (At least He’s never done that with me…or anyone in the Scriptures.) He reveals Himself one step at a time…and demands that we have the faith to follow Him wherever He leads us. (See Hebrews 11:6)
#3 - Doubt - There are people reading this blog right now who have serious doubts that God could ever use you to do something great for His name…and you’re WRONG! Gideon wrestled with doubt (see Judges 6) until he realized that God didn’t see him as he was…but rather as who HE had created him to be!
#4 - Pride - There are some people that are so busy looking for the great and awesome opportunities that they miss the “little things” that God places in front of them every day because to acknowledge them would be somehow demeaning because, after all, certain “little things” are beneath people who are pursuing a path of greatness, right? Uh…the only real problem with that is Jesus…the GREATEST of all time…who, in His pursuit to be completely obedient took time to wash the feet of the men that were going to deny and betray Him. (See John 13) If God can’t trust us with the small things…then how in the world could He ever trust us with “big” things?
#5 - Unawareness - We lose sight of WHO HE IS (Isaiah saw Him and was ruined—see Isaiah 6:1-8). We lose sight of WHAT HE CAN DO! He healed the blind, put an Interstate highway through the Red Sea, made the lame walk and BROUGHT THE DEAD BACK TO LIFE. We read those stories in the Scriptures but many time fail to understand…HE’S THE SAME GOD!!! HE HAS THE SAME POWER!!! HE IS NOT LIMITED! HE WANTS THE CHURCH TO THRIVE MORE THAN WE DO!!! It’s not that He’s NOT wanting to do great things…but rather than He can’t find men and women who believe in Him enough to attempt what HE is leading them to do!!!
I am sure there are other reasons…those are just a few that hit me.