Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."
'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--Only this and nothing more."
Edgar Allen Poe, "The Raven"
A knock at the door can be a startling thing. It can arouse fears and concerns or it can excite us.
Some visitors will not bother to knock - they'll just barge right in.
Looking at things from a spiritual perspective, Christians have an enemy sworn to their destruction and that enemy will seldom knock... in fact he -at times - comes in "like a flood". At other times he "crouches outside the door" waiting to pounce.
Jesus on the other hand, will always knock and wait for an invitation to enter (see Revelation 3:20). He's like opportunity. Sometimes, He just quietly knocks and waits.
Sometimes when opportunity comes to our door, He doesn't come in a form that we expected and so we fail to open the door.
A case in point is the story of Joshua and the army of Israel in Joshua 11. This army was going about doing what God had destined them to do - take the land that God promised to them.
They had defeated the entire southern region. Then in chapter 11 a large number of kings from diverse directions all decided to join forces and attack Joshua and his army. These kings were well equipped - they had all the "high tech" weapons of the day... horses and chariots. Israel did not.
They came from the east, west and north.
If I were Joshua, I would have been more than a little taken aback by the prospects.
But apparently he talked it over with God (good idea, Josh), and God essentially told him that opportunity was knocking. . .
The LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them over to Israel, slain. You are to hamstring their horses and burn their chariots." Joshua 11:6 NIV
...and Joshua answered the door....
So Joshua and his whole army came against them suddenly at the Waters of Merom and attacked them, and the LORD gave them into the hand of Israel. Joshua 11:7-8a NIV
Joshua seized the opportunity and his army defeated all of those kings that came before him.
When opportunity comes our way we sometimes fail to open the door. One reason may be that we are too distracted to hear the knocking. In Acts 12 you can read the story about people so distracted by their involvement in doing the right thing - that is, praying for Peter to be delivered from prison and certain death at the hands of King Herod - that they nearly missed the fact that God had already answered their prayers! The "answer" was standing out in the street, continually knocking at the door of the gate to the house where they were praying.
We can really get caught up in things - things that are very important -even righteous... and they can distract us from the opportunity that is just quietly standing on the front porch, knocking.
Fear will also keep us from opening the door to opportunity.
Sometimes, opportunity will just give up and go away, because we were cowering behind the door. We heard the knock but were fearful to open it, so we hid . . fearful that our breathing might be loud enough for him to hear. . . relieved when he walked away.
Some people will gladly open the door to opportunity because they recognize the caller.... Jesus said "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." (John 10:27NIV) they recognize that Jesus is there and He has some opportunity for them.
Picture Abraham, sitting in his tent door on a still, hot day... on the horizon he sees three figures walking in his direction. He knows that God is there in that trio.
And he bolts out of the door... not fearful of the Visitors, not too distracted to realize Their approach. He bolts out the door and runs to Them!
I think that is how God wants us to treat opportunity... bounding toward it!
Now, we are seeing some ominous times these days. Rumblings from Russia, Iran, maybe North Korea and China.... the diving stock market ... a lack of leadership from Washington ... potential leaders not acting in ways that instill a lot of confidence.
All of this looks like everything but opportunity knocking. But remember Joshua's story, how the opportunity for conquest came in the form of a very ominous and threatening atmosphere.
And in our day-to-day lives, when we feel that someone has painted a target on our back ... stop and listen closely ....
You might hear someone knocking. . .
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