Stuck

I don't understand it, but Jackson is fifteen years old. He was 18 months just thirty days ago, or so it seems. He’s always been what the experts would call a verbal processor. You didn’t need to look at him to know how he felt. You would hear it.

To Jackson, but one of the most useful words early on was ‘stuck’. If he couldn’t get his Matchbox car out from under the refrigerator, we’d hear “Stuck! Stuck!’. If his stuffed animal wouldn’t fit through the bars of his crib, “Stuck! Stuck!”. “Stuck” was the universal term for “I have something in mind and this ain’t workin’!”.

We’ve all been there. Stuck. Stuck in weird relational loops having the same discussions with the same people over same issues to the same non-conclusions. Stuck with the stack of needs piled higher than the stack of provision. Stuck in circumstances that we feel are completely out of our control....and so we wait....insisting that we’re waiting on God, but we’re tapping our foot the whole time. At least the one not stuck in the trap.

C’mon God. Get with the program. I’ll declare or decree or quote whatever scripture I need to quote, just get me out of this fix. I’m stuck. I have something in mind and it ain’t workin’.

I’m learning that not all waiting is waiting on God. Some times, we’re stuck and we think we’re waiting, but we’re not. We’re just stuck, and struggling as we dig ourselves deeper by trying to free ourselves. Every effort that we put forth seems to make the water level of insanity inch higher and higher as we sing lower and lower. It’s getting hard to breath now, and we’re arguably more stuck than we were just a day or so ago.

Here’s a word to the stuck among us this morning.

Ps 40:1
I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

I waited patiently for the Lord.

It sounds like there’s an element of our own behavior that predicates our release. No, God isn’t dependent on our cooperation, but He still waits on it. It’s His penchant for partnering with us. He waits until we’re done struggling. He waits until we realize we’re going nowhere on our own, and we’re fully aware it’s His coming that sets us free. He masterfully maneuvers our heart before He manipulates our circumstances.

Surrender is the first step to getting unstuck. Take a deep breath and trust in the God of the Stuck.