On August 26, 2017, at a Sam Food Mart in Lewisville, TX some nameless individual purchased a lottery ticket worth one million dollars. However, winning lottery tickets are only redeemable for a limited time. After the expiration of 180 days, on Thursday, February 22nd the ticket became totally worthless. Whoever the lucky, or perhaps unlucky, person was that purchased the ticket, they held a small fortune in their hands and never even realized it.
How many valuable opportunities are missed because we are too blind, too busy, or too afraid to see them? Many Jews had the opportunity to meet the Son of God and hear Him speak, but they were unwilling to accept the truth of the opportunity before them (Mark 4:12). For those Jews, and for many today, the problem was that the Gospel challenges them to change, and change is often uncomfortable.
In Exodus 4:2, God asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?” It was simply a humble shepherd’s rod, but with that rod, God would bring great deliverance to the nation of Israel. Just as Moses’ rod or the unclaimed lottery ticket, opportunities of measureless value, and often the very change for which we have been praying is in our hands this very moment. This should challenge each of us to give pause, and ask, what blessings or opportunities am I failing to see?