When We're Stuck

Life can overwhelm us with a variety of difficult things - cruel people, hard jobs, financial instability, and broken relationships, just to name a few. My first instinct is to just run away! But that isn't an appropriate response. So what should we do when we're "stuck" in the lives we didn't plan?

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I'm going to be completely honest today and tell you, yes, I've heard 1 Peter 5:7 my entire life! I was consistently taught this in church and at home. It's a very popular verse, "Cast all your cares upon Him because He cares for you." It's definitely an encouraging verse! But let's take a look at the verse which precedes that one. 1 Peter 5:6 says, "Humble yourself therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time."

I am also a reader of the Message Bible and it's translation reads:

So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; He’ll promote you at the right time. 

I'm not trying to tell you to just give up. If you aren't living the life you always planned and you can change it, take some action! Change the things you can! But sometimes, our timing is just wrong. I believe that God gives us seasons of life when we just feel stuck. We can't change anything about it, but it is then we surrender or humble ourselves before God. We learn to be content with who and where we are and not forgot that God is watching us. He has a plan for our future and when the time is right, a door will open or an opportunity will rise. Our timing is different from God's and if you're like me, patience isn't easy. But I have a feeling that God's plan will be worth the wait!

Psalm 37:2 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will act. 

I pray that today, we will quit worrying about our situations. I pray that we will fully humble ourselves before God, and that we would rely completely on Him. I surrender this to Him and I am done feeling such negativity about where I am. I hope that if you are going through something difficult, you will find the courage to give it up and hand it to Him as well.

This is just a quick devotion today, but it's something I've been dealing with lately. I hope that some of you can relate to this, but even if it was just for myself, I wanted to share.

Courage

Courage is scary, because in order to have courage, you must go through something intimidating. Today instead of doing a specific character study, I'm going to share a few people from the book of Daniel who lived with great courage, and a few verses that apply to being courageous in our lives today.

1) Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego. These three men showed a huge amount of courage. The king had built a huge statue that he wanted his people to worship. These guys didn't think it was right! They had only one King they wanted to worship, and it wasn't Nebuchadnezzar. But rebellion had a price, and Nebuchadnezzar is to throw anyone who disobeys his commands into a fiery furnace. Check out this dynamic voice of courage found in the book of Daniel.

Daniel 3:16-18Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, "Your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king. But even if he doesn't, it wouldn't make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn't serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up."

Wow! They have such faith in God, stating the He will rescue them. But really what makes a mark? When they say "But even if he doesn't, it wouldn't make a bit of difference." They believe that God will take care of them, but if He doesn't, they will not regret their decision. Can you be much more courageous? We know the story. The people watching them be thrown into the furnace see not just 3 figures in the furnace, but a very mysterious 4th figure is also in the fire. The men are retrieved from the furnace with no scars, not even their clothes were burned.

2) Daniel. Something I did not understand as a kid is that Daniel was actually well acquainted with the three men we just talked about! I never knew that until recent study of the Bible.

If we read on in the book of Daniel, we find our next character of awesome courage, Daniel. There's a new king in town, King Darius. His officials are jealous of Daniel, and they are able to talk the king into enforcing a decree that nobody in the land can pray or serve anyone but the king for 30 days. Anyone who disobeys will be fed to the lions. These officials did this because they knew that Daniel was a very faithful servant of God and they could find no other way to get rid of him. As the Message Bible puts it, "They searched for skeletons in his closet but found none."

As they planned, Daniel keeps praying to his God. The officials bring it to Darius' attention. He regrets making the law, because he greatly respects Daniel.

Daniel 6:16 The king caved in and ordered Daniel brought and thrown into the lions' den. But he said to Daniel, "Your God, to whom you are so loyal, is going to get you out of this." 

Daniel's courage is so great that it even causes the king to have faith in a God he doesn't serve! The next morning, when the king has had enough, he goes to check on his friend. Daniel is unscathed, completely protected. His courage changes the entire land.

Daniel 6:25-27 King Darius published this proclamation to every race, color, and creed on earth:

Peace to you! Abundant peace! I decree that Daniel's God shall be worshiped and feared in all parts of my kingdom. He is the living God, world without end. His kingdom never falls. His rule continues eternally. He is a savior and rescuer. He performs astonishing miracles in heaven and on earth. He saved Daniel from the power of the lions.

You've probably heard or read those stories countless times, but it's such a great reminder. These men all showed such exemplary accounts of courage! Here are just a few encouraging verses about courage.

Deuteronomy 31:6 
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. 

Psalm 56:3-4 When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? 

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. 

 How can you be courageous in your faith today?

Character Study #2: Abraham

Abraham, the father of many nations, wasn't always the man of unwavering faith we hear about. Yes, Abraham did almost sacrifice his son Isaac for God, because that is what God told him to do:

Genesis 22:

1 After all this, God tested Abraham. God said, "Abraham!" "Yes?" answered Abraham. "I'm listening."

2 He said, "Take your dear son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I'll point out to you."

 

We know the story, Abraham takes his son and is ready to sacrifice him to God, when God provides a ram for sacrifice instead. This is one of the scariest tests of faith offered to us in the Bible! I heard a quote once that went something like this, "I will never understand Abraham's true act of obedience until I am 100 years old when I have a son and then God asks me to sacrifice that son." How true is that? I, being a childless 21 year old, cannot fully imagine the pain and sorrow that Abraham must have felt when God asked him to do this. But he follows the command, and God provides.

This is not the side of Abraham I planned to share though. We're going to backtrack a bit, heading to Genesis 12. At this point of the story, Abraham is called Abram and his wife Sarah is called Sarai. God has promised many nations and blessings to Abram. God even promises to "Bless those who bless Abram and to curse those who curse him."

Genesis 12:13 Then a famine came to the land. Abram went down to Egypt to live; it was a hard famine. As he drew near to Egypt, he said to his wife, Sarai, "Look. We both know that you're a beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you they're going to say, 'Aha! That's his wife!' and kill me. But they'll let you live. Do me a favor: tell them you're my sister. Because of you, they'll welcome me and let me live."

Okay, here we see Abram showing little faith. God promised to take care of Abram, yet he still feels threatened and takes matters into his own hands. He lies to the Egyptians about Sarai, not because God tells him to, but out of fear. And guess what? He does it again eight chapters later!

Genesis 20: 1-2 Abraham traveled from there south to the Negev and settled down between Kadesh and Shur. While he was camping in Gerar, Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She's my sister."

This man, who later shows more faith than most Bible characters, actually ends up lying to protect himself! He fears that God will not protect as He promised, so he devises his own plan of protection. This is just another example of how God uses people who make mistakes. God does protect both Abraham and Sarah, but He would have if Abraham hadn't lied. Because of Abraham's lie, God intervenes. He reveals the truth to Abimelech through a dream in Genesis 20.

Genesis 20: 

3But that night God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are a dead man, for that woman you have taken is already married!”

4But Abimelech had not slept with her yet, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation?5Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘Yes, he is my brother.’ I acted in complete innocence! My hands are clean.”

6In the dream God responded, “Yes, I know you are innocent. That’s why I kept you from sinning against me, and why I did not let you touch her. 

Just two chapters later, we read Abraham is going to sacrifice his own son for God? Can you see the radical change of faith? Abraham was a human. He made mistakes and like us, his faith faltered at times. I don't want to say that we should be encouraged by Abraham's mistakes, but to be honest, I am. This character of such legendary faith, only two chapters earlier, showed none.

 Do you always trust in God and know that He will take care of you? It's easy to give up on God and try to take control of the situation, but I believe that God blesses those who are willing to trust wholly and completely in Him. This story shows us how God provides, even when we are faithless. And just like when we studied Adam and Eve, we see how God uses a sinner to do amazing things. Abraham becomes the father of many nations.