Most of us have at one time or another desired to transform our bodies. You saw a weight loss infomercial on TV or the cover of a magazine during check-out at the grocery store and thought one of these days I will have the body of my dreams. You may be one of those who took the next step and actually started the transformation process. However, as with most exercise programs, we all hit the proverbial “plateau” when the progress seems to come to a halt as we continue doing all the “right things” without any positive results. We are stuck! At such a point we face all kinds of frustrations and the thought of quitting seems like the reasonable thing to do. Professional trainers will advise that unless we change our routine, we will remain in that stage of more pain and no gain. We must change or remain stuck.

Sadly, as Christians we hit these spiritual plateaus in our journey where we make little or no progress. Weeks, months and even years pass and we have nothing to show in our ministries or walk with the Lord. We feel stuck. The dictionary definition of stuck is to be caught or held in a position so that you cannot move.

But thanks be to God we can become unstuck from the pit of mire when we put our hope in the Lord. In Ps 40:1-3, the psalmist says,

“I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
² 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.”

There are many reasons for being stuck. We could be stuck because we are going about a particular task the wrong way. Take for example King David, who desired to bring the Ark of the Covenant from Gibeah to Jerusalem. Unfortunately it had to be left in the house of Obed-edom for a while because God did not approve the way the Ark was being moved. After finding out the proper Levitical way of moving the Ark, David led a jubilant procession and brought it to Jerusalem, where a new order of worship became established. We must follow ‘the instruction manual’ closely if we want complete the assignment God has for us.

We can become stuck because we have believed the wrong report. The Israelites remained in the wilderness for forty years because they did not believe God’s report that the time had come for them to take the Promised Land and that they were well able to do it because God was with them. The Lord caused them to wander in the wilderness until such a time as a believing generation was ready to take the promise. Unbelief can get us stuck spiritually causing us to not enter into His rest.

Finally, we can remain stuck because we have lost our vision. Prov 29:18 tells us, “Where there is no vision, the people perish (cast off restraint)” KJV. The Message says,

“If people can’t see what God is doing,
they stumble all over themselves;
But when they attend to what he reveals,
they are most blessed.”

The Bible tells us that Jesus did only what he saw the Father doing. We need to have our spiritual eyes open so that we can finish the race that God has set before us.

Lord, we pray that you will grant us the grace to hear your voice telling us, “this is the way; walk in it.” Deliver us from unbelief so that we can stand on your word as you direct us in your path. We ask that you give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that your purpose may remain clear in our lives. Amen.