THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE

Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?” – Judges 6: 14 (NKJV)

Change is a challenge. Challenges make champions! Challenges unveil a person’s true state, the stuff of the inner core. So does change. Challenges thrust you out of your comfort zone. So does change. Challenges help to define your priorities – what is most important to you. So does change. To be complacently satisfied with yourself is a sure sign of impending stagnation – a pointer to inertia. Within every challenge lies an opportunity for change. It’s up to you to look for the unique opportunities in your current challenges and maximize them.

Gideon never realized the Might in him until the season of change came. As long as he refused to face the challenge of change in his own life, the entire people of Israel remained in bondage to fear. Gideon was hiding in the winepress for fear of the Midianites. Now, there was an urgent demand for dynamism. God had to inject in him the right attitude to the challenge of change: And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor” (Jud.6:12). God showed Gideon that neither his family’s poverty nor his personal shortcoming could disqualify him from becoming a formidable Change-Agent, as long as he was a carrier of divine Presence (Jud.6:15-16).

Armed with the right attitude, man’s adversity can become God’s opportunity. Adversity often births opportunity. Adversity causes some men to break; others to breakthrough and break records. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” There are no short cuts to any place worth going. The pathways of life cannot avoid the challenges of change. If you find a path without obstacles, it is probably a path that doesn’t lead to anywhere significant.

The difference between an obstacle and an opportunity is your attitude towards it. More often than not, it is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness. The wilderness is usually an interlude that you’ll have to navigate through to get to the Promised Land. But the travel is worthy of the travail when you are on the right road.