The word "Obstacle" defined is "Something that stands in the way of progress." 

We all have obstacles in our lives. It might be your health, your finances or your self-image. It could be a combination of many different things that have been a part of your life for many years.

 

Zacchaeus was a tax collector. In Bible times tax collectors were treated like lepers. They were ostracized and unliked by most people. Tax collectors were dishonest and stole money from hard working people and because of this they had many obstacles in their every day lives. Grant it, they brought it upon themselves. But many of the obstacles in our lives we have also brought upon ourselves.

 

Zacchaeus was tired of life as normal. He was tired of having issues that stood in the way of progress. He wanted to encounter Jesus. But he had a problem, an obstacle, that stood in his way. There were people EVERYWHERE and because of this he could not see Jesus. The Bible also teaches us that Zacchaues was a short man in stature; so this  increased his obstacle pressure.

 

Imagine how frustrating this situation was. He was not liked by general society, he was a short man, and there were people pressing all around him that wanted to get to Jesus and they could have cared less  how Zacchaeus felt.

Have you ever felt this way? Life is crashing in all around you and you feel the pressure of the obstacles that you deal with and no one cares.

 

BUT, Zacchaeus did something to separate himself from the crowd. He had a moment! He decided that he wasn't going to allow himself to be hindered anymore.

 

He began to asses the situation. How could he do something in spite of his obstacles to encounter Jesus? He began to look around. He began to think deeply. He began to get intense in his thought process. He thought to himself  "There has got to be something I can do to get to him, to see him, to experience him." He told himself "I refuse to be hindered by these obstacles and I will find a way to get the very thing that I desire."

In his "moment", he noticed a Sycamore Fig tree. Just a tree. How many times had he seen that tree and thought nothing of it. But, he decided to take the ordinary and use it as a tool to get the very thing that he desired.

 

He pressed through the crowd and made his way to that tree. He began climbing it. He was a short man, so he may have fell a few times on his way up. But he kept climbing; he kept picking himself up and starting over. He had some obstacles but He wasn't about to give up. He kept climbing. Before he knew it, he had successfully climbed that tree.

 

Jesus passed by and took notice of Zacchaeus. He noticed that he had gone through the intense pressure of moving past his obstacles to obtain the thing that he desired. AND he DID GET IT!

 

Face your obstacles in life head on. Find a tree and start climbing. You might fall, but pick yourself up and start over again. CLIMB! Climb higher. FOCUS. You can do it. Maybe you have never climbed a tree before. (I am sure that Zacchaeus had NEVER climbed a tree.)  Climb anyway friend. You will obtain the very thing that you so desire as long as you find a tree and start climbing. Jesus will take notice of you.

 

Don't worry about the crowd. They may have thought that Zacchaeus was crazy. But he climbed anyway. If people ask you what you are doing.....just say "I am climbing!" In the end they will wish that they had climbed that tree with you.

 

 Be blessed and know that I am climbing with you!