Wasted Opportunities

Numbers 14: 3-4

Wasted opportunities describe the story of our lives and that of nations and institutions.
Today, we stand on the threshold of an opportunity to do something better.
We can do something better for the world and to better ourselves and to do something good.
But for one reason or another, we are wasting our opportunities .

This is true of the Israelites when they had arrive at the edge of the Promised Land.
The people became frightened and discouraged and began to murmur against Aaron and Moses,
saying to them, "Let's go back to Egypt."

They were meant for the Promised Land, and here they were at the Promised Land,
but they decided that it would be better for them to go back than to go forward.

Some of the reasons they turned and went back are the same reasons that we use today,
and by which we often miss our opportunities.
There are many opportunities that come to us to better ourselves and our lives, but we miss them
because we are want to go back to our Egypt.

We go back to our Egypt because we are too frightened to go forward.

Those who scouted out the land reported that it was "a land of milk and honey."
They also reported that it would be a difficult land to settle.
And it would require a lot of work.
But the real problem was that there were people already there, and some of them were giants.
They were the sons of Anak.

The scouts said that they were as grasshoppers compared to those giants.
That scared them.
They were not ready to do battle with any giants.
So, they were frightened and decided that they would be better off to go back to Egypt.
At least they would still be alive in Egypt.

This is often true in our lives.
Some of our opportunities may frighten us.
There are so many things of which we are afraid.
We are afraid of crime, cancer and death.
We are also afraid of failure, and of what other people think of us.
We are often afraid of change, and of anything that is new.
We often seem to view life by what we fear.

And it is true that there is much to fear.
Often, we fear what will happen in the future.
And there are many giants in our world.

We must also remember that while there are giants in the world, God is also here.
God brought the Israelites out of Egypt.
God took care of them in the wilderness.
God will provide for them in the Promised Land.
God was more powerful than all the giants in the world.
God will take care of them and all the problems that they may face.
But their fear of the giants was larger than their faith in God.



Many wanted to go back to Egypt because they had forgotten what it was like in Egypt.
They were saying let's go back to Egypt.
Did they not remember their slavery in Egypt?
Did they not remember how cruelly they were treated?
The tragedy was that they didn't remember what Egypt was like.

They wanted to have the security of slavery more than they wanted the responsibility of freedom.
That was a tragic choice.
They were selling their souls for security.
They had forgotten that Egypt was a literal hell on earth for them.

Many in our world today worship "the good old days."
They would rather live in the past than live with the challenges of the present.
They collect memorabilia of the past and listen to the music of the past.
They are interested in the people and history of the past.
They are always talking about "the good old days."

What good old days?
Where were they?
Since the turn of the century we've been involved with more than six wars
and the tragedy and devastation that has come with them.
Since the turn of the century we have lived through a terrible depression and the one
that we are having now is costing us more than we have.
And there was a spiritual emptiness then as now.

Some years ago, a woman in her nineties said what she remembered about the past.
She said, "Everybody is talking about how good the good old days were.
They weren't very good.
There were problems then just as there are now."

The day in which we are living can be the best day that we have ever had.
It depends on whether or not we will have the kind of faith in the goodness and the power of God
to believe that we can do something with this day.
It doesn't depend on the time in which we live, but on the faith in which we live.
God who led the people out of Egypt to the Promised Land is the same God who is ready to do
great things in our lives.
He will lead us out of the Egypt that enslaves us into the joy and victory of the abundant life
which He is always ready to give.

Many want to go back to Egypt because they don't want to make the commitment to go forward.
The Israelites didn't take the Promised Land because they were not willing to pay the price for it.
It would not be easy, and it would mean a lot of hard, difficult work, and it would be dangerous.
They didn't want that.

They wanted God to deliver them from slavery.
They wanted God to provide for them in the wilderness.
But they wanted it all to come easy.
But in essence God said: "You can have the Promised Land if you want it.
I will help you get it.
But you will have to go and take it.
You must be committed to give your life to it."

They didn't want to go on God's terms.
So, they didn't!

We would like to have a Promised Land flowing with milk and honey and were everything is easy
and lovely and filled with laughter, and where there are no problems.
But like the Israelites we want God to hand it to us on a silver platter.
We are not willing to pay the price for it.
We want the benefits of the kingdom, but we do not want the responsibilities of the kingdom.
We want the glories of the cross without the sacrifice and suffering that comes with it.
We want faith without commitment.

Jesus told us of the condition of discipleship, when He said, "If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me."

We often talk about the kind of promised lands that we would like to have.
We want a Christian home, but we're not willing to pay the price for it.
The price includes such things as loving others more than we love ourselves, and applying the
golden rule to our lives.
The price also includes honesty, kindness, patience, unselfishness and faithfulness.

We also would like to have a Christian community.
But we also would have to pay the price for that.
That means to be involved in the community and in the needs of the community and to see
that things that need to be done are done.

We also want a good church, but there is also a price involved.
The price we must pay is to be involved in the worship and the ministry of the church.
It means that we must make a commitment and have a willingness to serve, to sing in the choir,
to visit those who are sick and shut-in, and to visit the sick in the hospital and the nursing homes.
It definitely means that we must be committed to witness to those who are unsaved
and visit those who are prospects for the church and be willing to listen and to encourage those
who are hurting.

Again, if we want the blessings and the benefits of the Christian life then we must commit ourselves
to do as Jesus commanded: " Take up your cross daily and follow me.
For if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it."
How many of you are willing to pay the price?

Most of us would have to admit that we have missed many opportunities that were ours.
Remember, the Israelites missed their opportunity for the Promised Land because they were
more afraid of the giants than they were willing to trust in God.
We must remember that God is always with us.
We must take God at His word, and believe and all His promises.
We must trust Him completely!

The future is before us.
Our future can be better than our past.
God will lead us day by day if we will only focus on Him instead of focusing on the giants.
When we commit ourselves to take advantage of the opportunities that God will give us,
we will discover that God is with us.

If we go back to Egypt, we will miss all the joys and glorious and blessings and the victories
of the Promised Land.
The choice is simple and straightforward.
The choice is will we go to the Promised Land or to Egypt.
Which direction will you take from this day forward?

How often have we wasted our opportunities because we went back to our Egypt?
How often have we wasted an opportunity to make a difference in someone's Life?
How often have we wasted an opportunity to be a blessing to someone who was hurting?
How often have we wasted an opportunity to witness to an unsaved loved one?
How often have we wasted an opportunity to make an eternal difference in a person's life?

We must be alert to the opportunities that are ours every day!
Sermon adapted by Dr. Harold L. White

I read of a church in a neighborhood that was changing into a ghetto.
That church had a choice to make.
Would it stay there and to minister to that community or would it move?
It moved!
Now there is a supermarket where the church used to be, and that community is now
a high crime district with poverty and drug dealers.

I read the story is told of a photographer who worked for a Christian journal.
The editor commissioned him to photograph someone that characterized the
destitute condition of humanity.
After a great deal of searching the photographer captured the perfect picture.

From a shadowed alley he spotted a beggar pleading for food.
The beggar lay stretching from his side toward a grocery store that displayed freshly baked bread.
The photographer got into position and excitedly snapped the picture.
Moments later he rushed the picture to his editor.
The editor agreed that it perfectly depicted humanity's misery.

After congratulating the photographer the editor peered deeply into his eyes and asked:
“And what assistance did you give the beggar after the photograph?”

With a twist of discomfort the photographer softly confessed that he had done nothing.
The editor responded: “You got the picture but you didn't get the message.”

We see the picture, but do we get the message?

Sermon adapted by Dr. Harold L. White