I love the TV show Shark Tank–it’s so fun to watch and my whole family will sit around and critique the presenters and guess who will make what kind of deal. If you haven’t ever seen it the basic premise is that there are 5 millionaire/billionaire entrepreneurs who are the sharks and inventor/presenters stand in front of the sharks to make a pitch and get them to invest in their product. It is super intense and interesting.
The other night there was a woman who had a great product and did a great presentation–it looked like she was going to get a great offer from the sharks BUT as they offered some advice and started discussing offers, her response shut the whole thing down and she walked away with zero investment.
As I watched it hit me that there was a strong spiritual lesson there for us. Mark Cuban, who is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks was talking with the lady and made a couple of suggestions of what he thought would be a good next step if they settled on a deal AND the crazy woman kept disagreeing with him, telling him that his ideas were wrong and basically just talking the whole time Mark was trying to help her!! I could tell Mark was disgusted and about to bail on the whole idea–he finally told her that he was about to offer her a deal but that since she wouldn’t quit talking long enough for him to get a word in then he was out. She was ridiculous and then it hit me….
How much like the woman who walked away with nothing I can be. How often do you and I stand before the God of the universe and we don’t stop talking long enough to hear what He has to say??? Mark Cuban is a brilliant investor/business man/entrepreneur and that poor woman was dumb enough to completely ignore what he had to say about a business that he knows much more about than she does….do I ever refuse to listen because I think I’m right or that I know all I need to know about whatever?
Not only do we do that with the Lord when we don’t get quiet and still enough to hear Him but we also do that with people around us who have been there–people who are just enough farther down the road than we are and have some experience that could help us make a wiser choice. Let’s be honest–there are so many people that we can learn from if we will just get in front of them and listen AND of course we need to be intentional about letting God speak to us on everything…and once He does speak–we would be wise to get busy doing whatever He tells us to. I don’t want to be the woman who walks away with nothing because I talked too much or refused to listen…
Be still and know that I am God…
If anyone lacks wisdom let her ask of God who gives generously…
because there are sharks out there that are after us and we would be wise to listen to the ONE and ones who know more than we do:) thanks Mark for the wake up call…
Rachel
rachel lovingood 