When You're Stuck

I go through seasons of unsettledness. The feeling of not doing enough, yet I don’t have the energy or passion to do anything more.

I remember using a program once called unstuck. I deleted it.

I tried working out more. Didn’t help my passion.

I have used reminders, I have scheduled things in a calendar.

I have written myself notes, putting sticky notes all over the various objects and doors in my life.

I have eaten better foods, hoping it would reenergize my heart.

I have watched less TV hoping it would spark my creativity.

None of these seemed to be the key, even all of them together couldn’t cure my melancholy.

But it wasn’t simple an emotional reality, it was a spiritual gloom.

I was pushed back into the one thing I refused to believe it could be.

read. the. book.

I’m a pastor, I read the book all the time. That can’t be it. I have my daily time with the Lord, I write my prayers down to remember what God has done. I have biblical knowledge that I can fall back to in times of despair. I have enough. I couldn’t need more.

read. the. book.

I’m drawn to David like most are drawn to him, he fails, he yells, he cries, he wishes the destruction of his enemies, and David asks God where He is at in the dark times. All of these things are actions that make us think of David as a compatriot in the life of failure many of us are accustomed. 

However, this blanket idea of David forgets that this man was a warrior for God. This man was someone to be honored. This man, through his failures, had a lion’s share of faith. We would all be so lucky to have the faith of David. David himself is not one to proclaim his own strength but instead, “… David strengthened himself in the Lord his God…”(Psalm 30:6 ESV). 

This is my proclamation through my life. I must draw my strength from the Lord. He has made me to work hard, to build His kingdom, to lead my family, to draw others to His glorious light shone through Christ Jesus. But my problem in my “stuckness” is not that I’m not working hard enough. Many of those disciplines are exactly what God will use to get my attention and to draw me to Himself. But all is for naught if I am not drawing my strength, my will and my heart from God. Through the Book, I will be brought continually to my knees at the feet of my Savior and Lord Jesus. I will be captivated by the wisdom of my Father in Heaven. I will be strengthened by the power and care of my counselor the Holy Spirit. 

To follow in the footsteps of David is not to follow in the footsteps of failure but to follow in the example of believing, living, and proclaiming God’s strength within us.