Out Of Reach

I knew that I was the least experienced in the group and that my ability to pick up new things was often disastrous (this point had been reinforced just a few years earlier when I tried to teach myself to roller blade!)

Deuteronomy 30:1-20

Reference:  v.11  Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. (NIV Bible)

Explore:  A couple of years ago I decided to go skiing with some friends.  I had never tried skiing before, in fact I'd never even been to the snow before.  As we headed out early on our first morning I was very aware of my limitations.  I knew that I was the least experienced in the group and that my ability to pick up new things was often disastrous (this point had been reinforced just a few years earlier when I tried to teach myself to roller blade!)  And yet I was with a great group of friends and was up for the challenge.  Just getting in the skis proved slightly difficult and no one told me how slippery the snow was going to be – maybe they assumed I would have worked that one out myself!  The day slowly got better.  I survived my first ski lesson, finally conquered getting off the lift and stopped falling over every couple of metres down the slopes.  But the real excitement came when all of a sudden, two runs before the end of the day, everything seemed to come together at once and I felt like I was finally skiing.  I may have only still been on the green run (easiest slope) but I felt in control and it felt great.  I had nailed it!  Although I thought skiing was going to be too difficult for me and totally out of my reach, I did it!

Application:  There are many things in our lives that seem out of reach.  For me one of those things was skiing, but for you it might be breaking out of debt, finding your soul mate or mending a relationship.  For some people they feel that following God is too difficult and seems out of reach.  But He is not.  We may need to make some sacrifices, be persistent and allow ourselves to be vulnerable but it seems that this is part of the process we go through to get anything worthwhile.  

Prayer:  When everything seems too difficult and out of reach You come to us.  All we need to do is cry out to You and You hear our us.  Thank you for never being out of reach.  Amen.

What is something in your life that seems too difficult at the moment, or even out of reach?

Deuteronomy