When You Feel Stuck

Brenda and I were talking this morning over coffee about the Godly way to approach life, especially when we find ourselves in difficult situations, feeling stuck in a rut. Even in the idle points of life we must be active in heart, constantly making decisions on how and where to walk in our journey. Moving forward is the key. Keep walking and find the way out of that stifling chasm!

Psalm 34 is a chapter in the Bible that is rich with answers for almost every area of life. I know it's tempting sometimes to stop walking, count our grievances, seethe in bitterness and attempt to get even with the people who have hurt us. But the wisdom contained here would encourage us to move on.

Psalm 34:12-22
12 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from telling lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous,
and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to blot out their name from the earth.

17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the LORD delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.

21 Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The LORD will rescue his servants;
no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.

Here are a few things I take away from this powerful chapter in the Psalms:

1. Be quiet (Proverbs 17: 28- even a fool seems wise when he keeps his mouth shut!)
2. Pursue things that promote peace in your own life and in others--in thought, word and deed.
3. Remember that the Lord keeps an eye on His children and, like a good parent, rescues us from bullies in this life (maybe not when we want Him to, but in due time. See #5).
4. God's kids will experience troubles in this life, but He protects us and leads us successfully through them.
5. God will show justice to our enemies. We must keep walking, and place our trust in Him to rescue us and take care of our foes.

If we keep walking, even if it's in total faith, we'll one day come into a clearing on our pathway and realize a whole new universe of opportunities, just waiting on us to arrive.