Opportunity is Knocking
By Grant Gaines
Opponents will do anything they can to gain a competitive edge in a sporting event. Whether it throwing a pitch close to the batter’s head in baseball, intentionally giving a hard foul to the offensive player in basketball, or pushing and shoving after the whistle in football, competitors will do everything they can to distract their opponents. The sport, the opponent, and the methods may differ, but the goal is always the same: distract your opponent. If you can distract your opponent, you’ve won the war. Enter Yogi Berra.
Yogi Berra is one of the greatest baseball players of all time. He played several positions including catcher for the New York Yankees from the mid-1940’s through the early-1960’s. As a catcher, Yogi’s job was to tell the pitcher which pitch to throw to take advantage of the batter’s weaknesses. But, just like every competitive athlete, Yogi tried to distract his opponents by talking to them the whole time they were at the plate. And Yogi was great at this art.
So when Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves walked up to the plate during the 1958 World Series, Yogi began his usual task of distracting his opponent.
“Hey Aaron. You know your bat is supposed to face the other way so you can read the label, don’t you?” Yogi kept on saying this to Aaron over and over again until—pop! Aaron swung at the pitch and sent the ball sailing over the fence for a homerun. But just before he took off to round the bases, Hank leaned over to Yogi and said, “I came up here to hit, not to read.”
Hank Aaron didn’t allow Yogi Berra to distract him because he knew what his purpose was. Can the same be said about you? Do you know what your purpose here on earth is? Like Hank Aaron, we too have the greatest trash-talking, character-crushing, purpose-distracting opponent of all time—Satan.
As was Yogi Berra’s custom, Satan ventures night and day to distract you from doing the, “…good works which [God] has prepared in advance for [you] to do” (Ephesians 2:10, NIV). Sometimes he’ll distract you with a trial. Sometimes he’ll distract you with discouragement. But one of the greatest weapons Satan will use against Christians to distract us from God’s mission is a golden opportunity…or at least a mirage of one. He’ll try his best to use an increase in pay, position, or productivity to draw your attention away from God’s purpose and onto your promotion. It’s what he did with Nehemiah.
Nehemiah was the man in the Old Testament who undertook the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem after Judah was released from captivity by the Persians. As you could imagine, this duty demanded a whole lot of attention and focus. The security of a nation, a race, and God’s very own people depended on the stability and durability of the city’s walls—there was no margin for error. Nehemiah knew this. His workers knew this. And so did Satan.
Determined to derail the prosperity of God’s children, Satan did his best to do his worst. That’s why we read of “Nehemiah’s Building Company” facing multiple threats from their enemies who wanted no part of the Jews returning to the Promise Land. First, Nehemiah’s opponents mocked the Jews for attempting to accomplish something so grand (Nehemiah 2:19). When mockery didn’t work, the naysayers turned to intimidation as they threatened to physically attack the workers if they continued to build the wall (Nehemiah 4:7-8). It was after both of these tactics failed that the Enemy and Nehemiah’s enemies brought out the “big gun”—distractions.
If I were to give a loose translation of this invitation to distraction in Nehemiah 6:2 it would sound a little something like this—“Hey Nehemiah, we know you’re busy building the wall but we have the opportunity of a lifetime for you!” Of course I imagine these people speaking in their best used-car-salesmen voices as they attempt to lure Nehemiah away from his work. “We would love to meet with you to discuss this opportunity, how does tomorrow over a cup of coffee sound? Come on, our treat!”
But Nehemiah knew that, “…they were scheming to harm [him]” (Nehemiah 6:2, NIV). He knew that a trip to town meant a halt to the holy hedge. And more importantly, he knew that a human opportunity can in reality be a distraction from the divine. So Nehemiah,”… set [his] face like a stone, [and] determined to do [God’s] will…” (Isaiah 50:7, NLT) rather than chase after an opportunity.
“…I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:3, ESV)
I love that response! Nehemiah knew that he was doing what God created and purposed him to do—rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Sure, meeting with some high ranking officials may have sounded pretty harmless at first glance but Nehemiah recognized that it would only have served as a distraction from God’s true mission for his life.
That’s how you can decipher between an opportunity from God and a distraction from Satan. An opportunity from God will only excel your pursuit of your life’s calling. A distraction from Satan will, well, distract you from it.
Don’t go chasing every promotion and prompting. Be the best you that you can be. If God made you a stay-at-home mom, be the best stay-at-home mom you can be. If God made you a greeter at the church, be the happiest greeter the congregation has ever seen. And if God made you a construction worker like Nehemiah, build the best wall your country has ever known. The grass is not always greener on the other side—it’s greener where you water it. Bloom where you’re planted. Water the grass that is under your feet. And as Paul said it, “…excel still more” (1 Thessalonians 4:1, NASB).
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
