We have all experienced  a “window of opportunity” in our lives at some time or another – a situation where conditions are just right for something to occur and we must seize the opportunity quickly before the “window” closes.

Spiritual life certainly has its windows of opportunity, not only in the initial chance we receive to turn to God, but also in a smaller, ongoing way once we have done that.  Every time we learn something new that affects our lives we are presented with a new window of opportunity.  But if we do not quickly grasp the opportunity as soon as we see it, if we do not accept and implement whatever we see we need to do, we risk losing the opportunity entirely. Notice what the apostle James wrote about this:

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do” (James 1:22-25).

The analogy James uses of seeing ourselves in a mirror is not unlike the analogy we are talking about – of seeing a window of opportunity.  When God shows us something about the way we are, or how we should be, we must act immediately or, as James says, we look away and we forget.  Not only do we often forget what we saw, but if we do not accept and act quickly our own human nature will certainly take the opportunity to justify inaction on our part and sooner or later the window closes on change we might have made. 

The Bible records many instances of individuals seizing or not seizing opportunities:  Judges 9:33, Jeremiah 46:17, Acts 27:13, 1 Corinthians 7:21, etc.  Spiritually the need to act when we can is just as great or greater than in our physical lives.  The apostle Paul tells us that sin will certainly seize the opportunity to produce evil in our lives (Romans 7:8, 11), so we must quickly take every opportunity with which God presents us to grow and to do good (Galatians 6:10, Ephesians 5:16, Colossians 4:5).   

God is certainly patient with all of those with whom he works, but the experience of Christians throughout history has been clear that he does not give endless opportunities to change and to act on what he reveals to us (Romans 2:4-5).  Not to accept and act on each spiritual opportunity as it occurs is really a decision not to change or not to do good (“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” – James 4:17). That is why we must grasp every window of spiritual opportunity as quickly as possible once it opens. God does not call us to go window shopping  – but to choose and use every window he opens for us.

Scriptures in question:
“[King Saul] took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword” (1 Samuel 15:8).
“Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites …” (1 Samuel 27:8).

These verses in 1 Samuel are sometimes cited as showing a serious contradiction in the Old Testament.  1 Samuel 15 certainly gives a detailed description of how King Saul attacked the neighboring Amalekites, and the chapter reiterates several times that those people were “totally destroyed.”  On the other hand, 1 Samuel 27 is just as clear that later on David attacked the (seemingly now non-existent) Amalekites.

The answer to this apparent contradiction is found in the nature of ancient Near Eastern literature itself.  The historical annals and records of the kings of the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians and other cultures of the ancient biblical world are full of examples of kings who “totally destroyed” their enemies, while other records show just as clearly that those enemies still existed much later.  A good example may be found on page 27 of the book Peoples of the Sea by archaeologists Moshe and Trude Dothan who cite an inscription of the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses III:

“I slew the Denyon in their islands, while the Tjekker and Philistines were made ashes. The Sherden and the Washesh of the sea were made non-existent, captured all together and brought in captivity to Egypt like the sands of the shore.”

The expression “made non-existent” used by Ramesses in this boast is clearly hyperbole.  It is an exaggeration for effect no different from the way that we might say today that our favorite sports team “annihilated” or “totally destroyed” the opposing team.   This Ramesses III text is also illuminating in that it shows within the text itself that “made non-existent” is a figure of speech, because it is immediately followed by the statement that a great many of these people were captured and brought back to Egypt as captives!

So, it should not surprise us at all that the descriptions of battles found in the Bible often use exactly the kind of language and figurative expressions that were commonly used of victories and defeats by the  peoples of the ancient world, and that we still use today of defeated sports teams – even when we know they will be playing again in another week!
 
* See also our article on “Was Genocide Commanded in the Bible?” 

A Christian watching the flaming reds and burning golds of a sunset may give thanks for the beauty of the kaleidoscopic colors, while an atheist or agnostic seeing the same colors may perceive them only as a function of the filtering of shorter light frequencies by the atmosphere. The scientific explanation of how the sunset occurs is, of course, correct, but that doesn’t mean that we weren’t made to appreciate the beauty of those fiery colors.

Take, for example, the richly colored tropical fish you see swimming around in aquariums, or, if you are fortunate, that you may have seen in some tropical ocean.  Most people think those fish just evolved that way because their bright colors gave them some survival advantage over dull grey fish. But there are still plenty of dull grey fish in every ocean and they seem to be doing OK.  That’s not to say that the colors in nature don’t have any use, but often they are not really as necessary as you might think.

Flowers could have survived just fine if they were all one or two bright colors to attract insects where necessary, but there are thousands of colors in the floral world.  Birds and tropical fish could have survived with a much more limited palette of colors, too, but again, we see thousands of colors in these creatures – colors that are far more wide-ranging than is needed for members of species to recognize each other, or for any other practical reason. Nature has a superabundance of colors – and humans, especially, are designed to enjoy them.  The human eye can recognize nearly ten million distinct colors, and although we don’t need to be able to see so many colors in order to survive, the ability adds immeasurably to our enjoyment of the world in which we live.

But it could have been a black and white world. There is no reason to believe a black and white world would not work any more than a black and white TV could not work, but if you have a color TV, would you want to go back to black and white? We all know the answer to that question. The truth is, we love color and color adds tremendously to the enjoyment of watching a film or television program. The creation is no different. Whether we realize it or not, color is a gift we were given and one that helps us see something about the mind of God.
Usually we think of the creation as showing God’s intelligence in his design and provision for the many life forms of this world, but we can also see other traits – including his love – in the colors of the creation.

If your parents were inestimably rich and gave you a TV as a gift, would you think they loved you more if they gave you a black and white TV or a color TV, if they could afford either?  Color is obviously an important part of the gift. That is why we see examples of multiple colors being associated with gifts of love in the Bible. Think for example of Joseph’s coat of many colors and notice why it was given him: “Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons … And he made him a robe of many colors” (Genesis 37:3). Joseph’s father would still have loved him if he had given him a dull grey coat, but he loved him greatly and, as a result, gave him that coat of many colors. And it wasn’t just Joseph – we see other beloved individuals with many-colored coats in the Bible (2 Samuel 13:18, Psalm 45:14, etc.). 
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In the same way,  color is not just a part of Gods’ creation, it is a gift that he has given to us. He could have made everything black and white, but in love he made us capable of seeing millions of colors and built a superabundance of color into the creation for us to enjoy.  Next time you see a sunset, an iridescent tropical fish or a brightly colored bird or flower, think about it. Do you just see colors – or do you see God’s love expressed in the gift of color?