Obstacles

ABEKE BIKILA was one of the greatest runners in the history of world athletics.

Abeke thought nothing of obstacles; he ran the Marathon at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games just five weeks after having an his appendix removed -and won!

Few know how to battle obstacles in this life. Most people solve their problems by blaming other things: people, circumstances, or even objects. Man has been looking for a scapegoat since the world began.

When the first man sinned, his reaction was: "The woman you put here with me..." He put the blame on God, and on his wife. The woman then blamed the serpent, and the serpent probably had an excuse in its turn... ad infinitum.

It would be good for us to read the whole book of Proverbs, underlining all the verses that speak of complaints, excuses and blame. Can you do that? Let's go!

If you can't finish the project today, I challenge you to take time each day to read a bit. It's fascinating!

I learned an enormous amount about how we react to obstacles by reading Proverbs. It's true: we often face very great obstacles; situations get out of hand and we ask God, "Why did you let this happen now?"

God always responds, though sometimes not in the way or at the moment we would like. You know, we should learn to spot the way out of our situation.

God allows certain situations in our lives to strengthen and teach us wisdom, so that we will know how to help others.

We need to learn to surmount our obstacles, since NOTHING that happens takes God by surprise. That's how great God is; he can give you peace in spite of your circumstances. In spite of the obstacles.