During one of my regular jogs last Saturday, I started my route with the weather bright and sunny. 

But without any warning, it suddenly poured heavily. 

I was presented with two choices: (1) to forgo my weekly goal and return home, or (2) to work through the present circumstance and still achieve my weekly goal.

I was glad that I chose the latter and still achieved my goal despite the abrupt problem that I encountered. 

Encountering problems 

Similarly, life often presents to us problems that come in many forms or proportions that threaten to change our progress in life towards our goals.  

At such times, these emerging problems could be unexpected or out of our range of control. This may include a retrenchment exercise, being betrayed by someone, hit by an illness or accident and the list goes on.

Looking at problems

In life, there are mainly two ways that people can approach problems.

One way is to see problems as problems. So the only response to this would be to carp, condemn and complain. Then give up and remain status quo.

The other way is to see problems as God-given opportunities. This would provide us the confidence to respond by facing the adversity as we KNOW that He is in control and faithful.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

James 1:2-4

And more importantly, we UNDERSTAND that beyond the problem, there is a higher purpose to accomplished- the moulding of our character towards Christ-likeness.

Solving problems with God 

This God-given “problems”, in whatever situation actually provide us with opportunities to learn from, to evaluate and re-strategise or to apply and test our acquired knowledge and skills.

This way (the second) reflects adaptability and flexibility to work through the problem in order to achieve the goal.

And as a saying goes, “pessimism is seeing opportunities as problems, while optimism is seeing the opportunities in problems.”

Therefore, it is obvious that our progress in life is largely determined by our choice of approach towards problems. Cos even if we cannot control the constant emergence of problems in our lives, but what we have is the ability to control our response to them.  

Our RESPONSE-ability is our responsibility.