“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:”
Ecclesiastes 3:1
Have you ever felt stuck? Or maybe the better question is, have you been stuck? Stuck in a mindset, an offense, a season that filters your conversations and attitudes. People, churches, families, and businesses can get stuck. When we get stuck, it affects how we perceive life. If it is a constant strain or struggle and, if ignored can shape, direct, and many times control us into thinking it’s always going to be this way.
Real life struggles like depression, discouragement, anger, offense, and hurt can act like prison wardens making sure we stay in our cell of suffering and unable to see the light of day. We can get stuck in the constant gray and we lose the vibrant color that once filled our lives. It is here we do not live according to the plans God has for us. It is not that God is not with us. He is! It is simply we are not seeing the possibilities with Him. I am hoping this devotion is an avenue of His message of hope for you. Jesus came to set us free from the taskmasters of the predictable and painful. The season of yesterday no longer needs to control your tomorrow. It is time to get unstuck. Over the next few devotions, we are going to see how God is there to help us get free and let go.
There is a word God gave me when I was walking through the seasons in my own life. It is the word, “Release”. It means to let go, be set free. It comes from the root word “relaxare” that means to loosen or to stretch out. This is where we get the word “Relax” from. The Bible uses the word to mean forgiveness of debt. To release from something, you owe. If you wanted to use a common language version for the word it could read… “Relax… Release the stress of this season and trust God. Let go of yesterday’s burdens and boredom so you can move forward in what God has planned for you. “
Seasons Come and Seasons Go
If you take some time to read the entire passage in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, you will find that King Solomon writes a thesis on what he has learned in his exhaustive experiences in life. This guy had everything, and I mean everything. The richest man in the world. He withheld nothing from himself, and this is one of the greatest nuggets of wisdom he has observed. In everything there is a season. In every life, every family, business and local church or ministry. Nothing stays the same. There is good and there is bad. There is life and there is death. There is joy and there is mourning. There is building up and tearing down to start over. According to Solomon, seasons have a life span. They come and they go. But what happens when you get stuck in a season?
We can get stuck in the grief of death, loss, debt, discouragement. We can get stuck in the darkness and despair of an infirmity. Fears and hurts that took root in us years ago are still tripping us up with worry and offense. As I was reflecting on this in my own life, God showed me how I was getting stuck in the season of trial. It all had to do with what I was wearing. Instead of a garment of praise, I was choosing to put on a garment of Velcro. Things were sticking to me because I was stuck. When you are stuck, you are spinning your wheels. Lots of energy with little progress. Mud is flying everywhere and the only thing happening is the ditch is getting deeper. That was me!
Maybe this is where you find yourself today. The tires are spinning and instead of you moving forward you are sinking deeper. In the devotions ahead we will journey through the ability in Christ to get unstuck, but today let me leave you with this.
God’s grace is with you. Your season is not your identity. If we are not careful, we can begin to identify with the season instead of identifying with who we are in Christ. It can be like a task master that tells us we will always feel and act this way. That is not true. There is hope. The key is to simply recognize you are stuck. Quit denying it and thinking that there is more you can do or that it is your fault, so you have to get yourself out of it. That is a lie of the enemy. Scripture tells us that it is God who reaches us and pulls us out of the mirey clay. He rescues us from the pit. The plans He has for us are to prosper us and bring hope and yes, a future. I love this last one because God gave the people this promise when they were stuck deep in the mud of sin, rebellion and captivity. God is there and so is His grace. Acknowledge where you are and maybe how you got there. Ask God for help and you will find yourself being able to let go.