During a football game, when a quarterback is trying to throw a touchdown pass, he usually takes a few steps back before he throws the ball. He does that to position himself properly to project and direct the ball accurately to reach his target receiver. In other words, he sets himself back to build the leverage he needs to throw the ball in a way that will enable his receiver to catch it and score a touchdown. But in order for this to take place, he has to take a few steps back; he has to set himself back.
Similarly, in an airport, a pilot has to taxi a plane back to the beginning of the runway to prepare for take off. The pilot sets the plane back to its starting point to position it to launch. And even before the plane takes off, the plane tilts back just a tad little bit before it lunges forward. Likewise, when you get set back, have the mindset that you’re only being positioned to score a touchdown for your life. You’re being set to take off! You might be set back, but you’re still set!
People, friends, or family members might set you back, but God utilizes their plans to set you up for your destiny. In their efforts to cause you to fail whether intentionally or accidentally, they’re helping you to succeed. Like a plane set to take off, you’re being set to launch into your purpose. Like Joseph, you’re being positioned in the place where you need to be, in order to proceed with God’s mandate for your life. God is using your opposition to position you. Bishop T.D. Jakes observed:
Like an arrow caught in a bow most people go backward before they shoot forward…. Those of us who have experienced setbacks in life often release and shoot farther because of the setback and not in spite of it…. Sometimes what makes us insecure and vulnerable becomes the fuel we need to be overachievers….The antidote for a snakebite is made from the poison, and the thing that made you go backward is the same force that will push you forward.1
1. O. J. Toks, Rejected for a Purpose (Paoli, PA: Elevator Group Faith, 2010), 109-110.
