Every one of us has a desire, plan, dream, wish or quest for an achievement. However as we live this life we tend to discover that attaining our wishes is not as easy as we would want it to be. What we however tend to miss are the reasons why we meet hindrances on our way to achievement. Outlined below are three of some of the major blockades that hinder our way to achieving our breakthroughs.
- 1. Focusing on the wrong source( 1st Samuel chapter 1)
Hannah was married to a polygamist. To make the issue worse her womb was closed not because of anything resultant from her doing. The opposite was transpiring with her rival Peninah, she was producing children literally year after year! The Bible states that her rival constantly tormented her and she would cry and refuse to eat.
As long as Hannah spent time crying and refusing to eat she would go to the yearly trip to the Tabernacle and come back only to discover that her rival has conceived again, year after year!! This happened until she took her tears to the Lord and just one devout focus on the Lord earned the motherhood to a judge of Israel whose name is permanently etched in the annals of history.
Are you channeling your emotions to the wrong source? Are you refusing to eat for the wrong cause? Venting your emotions on the object of your pain will not take away the pain but taking your pain to His presence will avail a great outcome.
- 2. Despising those who serve with diligence(2nd Samuel 6 vs 16-23)
Michal was Saul’s daughter who had been given as a reward to David for the slaying of Goliath. She went to David as a token won because of valiance. She was literally a first prize in a contest and she never got to grips with what being a queen was and what it meant to serve God with diligence. She never sought to have a relationship with God beyond her being David’s wife. She did not recognize that circumstances had changed, she was no longer the object of adoration and worship but God was.
This made it difficult for her to appreciate and value the essence of God’s presence. As a result of that she opted to remain in the palace when the Ark of the Covenant (which signified God’s presence) entered town after a long time in captivity. Worse still she despised the man she was married to because he danced whole-heartedly in the presence of the Lord.
She remonstrated with the King for embarrassingly dancing in front of servant but David did not give a hoot! What mattered was the fact that he was reveling in the presence of the Lord period! As a result of her contempt for David’s whole-hearted dedication the Bible states that God closed her womb and she died childless.
At times we hinder our way forward by deriding or despising those that go the extra mile in His service. When we do this God cuts our productivity for He does not want us to bear sour grapes.
- 3. Failing to deal with the Hittite (Judges 2 vs 1-3)
Israel was supposed to rout and destroy the nations they found in Canaan before settling on the land but after attaining the land and for reasons better known to them, the Bible says they failed to dislodge the occupant nations. I believe that the excitement of being God aided overwhelmed them and they did not see a need to over-extend themselves again by sanitizing the land when they were already eating the honey and drinking the milk.
These remnants that they failed to dislodge later on came to haunt them and at times caused them to be handed over to captivity. This would not have happened had they followed the instruction to the letter.
At times we stop from fully sanitizing our lives and issues around us because we would have attained a greater portion of positivity. What we miss is that the little remnant breeds to gain strength and ground and sooner than later we find ourselves overwhelmed by issues we thought were too insignificant to dispatch.
Tomorrow, as the sun rises, take a step back and gauge your path to achievement, what blockades lie ahead? Deal decisively with them.