opposition

I'm training for a race. I've never been in a race before, so I'm kind of excited. It's a duathlon, which is a run-bike-run race. I wish it was called a biathlon, but the winter Olympics people stole that name already. By the way, who came up with that sport? Can you imagine someone sitting around one day and saying, "Ya know what 2 sports we need to combine, Cross-country skiing and shooting!"

Anyway, I've decided to do this duathlon because I'm 30 and I need something to keep me motivated to exercise and stay in shape. If you saw me you might argue that I have no problem staying in shape since I have the same size waist (32) as I did when I was in high school, but my heart was in dire need of some exercise. That realization came when I was walking up a flight of stairs and could hardly breathe. I knew I had to do something, so I signed up for this race in January.

The training was going splendidly until last week. My knee started hurting. It's happened before, and I know what it is. It's ITB syndrom, which is a condition where my IT band gets inflamed by rubbing against one of the bones in my knee. The pain is excruciating. I was really bummed because I had been doing some stretches for it and it hadn't hurt in over 6 weeks of training.

So after I ran yesterday and felt the pain start up again, I became really angry. In my heart, I'm like, "God, why are you letting this happen to me! I'm trying to take care of my body and this has to happen!" Of course, my natural inclination is to blame God, which was completely ignorant, but that's a whole other issue. As I was having this pity party for myself, the Holy Spirit impressed upon me some thoughts. First, that what I'm going through is a microcosm of life. When I try to do what's right, and live godly, I will face opposition.

Check out the book of Nehemiah sometime. Nehemiah's bummed that the wall of Jerusalem lie in ruins. He mourns and prays for over 3 months for God to do something, and lo and behold, He does. The king gives Nehemiah time off, money, men, protection, and supplies. Nehemiah couldn't have even written it up better. God answers Nehemiah's prayers and that's great, but in verse 10 of chapter of the story the antagonists are introduced into the story, two guys named Sanballat and Tobiah. These guys were ticked off that Nehemiah was going to rebuild the walls and they were going to do whatever it took to stop the work. There it is opposition.

I'm not trying to be fatalistic here, because we can overcome any opposition we face with the power of God working in us (Ephesians 1:18-20), but we will face opposition when we try to do what is right. The question I'd like to ask you is, "How do you handle the opposition in your life?" Do you give up easily? Do you get angry? Do you lean on God, or do you try to overcome on your own? These are important questions that we all need to answer.

I don't know what kind of opposition you might be facing in your life right now, but remember this. Number one, it's natural, so don't lose your perspective. And number two, rest on God and watch what He does to enable you to overcome. It will be a faith builder in your life.

What place I finish in during the race means little to me compared to the personal victories I know I can achieve overcoming the opposition.