It is obvious, isn't it?

At times, the most obvious thing seems to be the most elusive for us to grasp, huh? We think we can easily grasp something, but it seems to be harder than we imagined. We believe understand something fully only to find we don't really get it at all. Did you also realize that an older meaning of the word "obvious" is that thing that stands in your way? Sometimes the most 'obvious' things are the things that actually become the things that form some kind of obstacle for us. 

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being." (Matthew 6:19-21 MSG)

There are those who report every obstacle is just a way to develop our abilities to achieve or overcome, but there are others who look at an obstacle and see their inabilities as too many to ever overcome it. For example, I have a very small shop out back - only measuring 8 foot by 12 foot, meant to house all my woodworking tools and give me space to work. Now, if I am working on a small scroll saw project, that makes for a good 'bench top' project. If I am trying to construct a new dining room table, I need more space than my shop will afford in order to lay out the longer pieces of wood and glue them together. The 'obstacle' is the shop size and limitations. The answer is to have a larger space to work.

How do I overcome the obstacle of the smaller shop? In Arizona we don't have as much of a problem working outdoors because we don't get a lot of rain, no snow, and it is usually tolerable much of the time during the fall through spring season to work outdoors. I built a deck outside the shop to allow me to roll out my tools, set up a portable workbench or two, and continue my work. The obstacle is 'manageable', but have I really removed it? No, I am just being creative in dealing with it. There are lots of times in life when we 'deal with' an obstacle rather than removing it. We let the 'obvious' thing exist because we don't know how to deal with it, or we don't possess the ability to deal with it.

The only problem with this tact in life is that the obstacle is never removed! It remains - we just keep working around it. When this is something simple like the need for more space in the shop, we can 'deal' fine. When it is an obstacle in our 'character' that God has asked us to remove, we find it much harder, don't we? Our 'character' obstacle becomes a tripping hazard for us so many times because we don't deal with it more 'permanently'. We don't take it to God, asking for his help to get it out of the way permanently. We allow it to remain, but 'whitewash' it a little so it is less noticeable. The issue is that even though we 'pretty it up' a little, it is still not the character God wants for us to exhibit!

Take those things that are 'obvious' to God for his help. They aren't to become 'tripping hazards' in our lives, or things we just 'tolerate' and 'pretty up' under our own power. They are to become the things we entrust to him, allowing a true change in our path so that we are no longer having to deal with the 'obvious' issue in our midst. Just sayin!