Stuck

It has rained a lot in our part of the country. Just about the time I would prepare to mow it would rain again soaking the ground. When I waited for it to dry out either my schedule precluded my mowing or it rained again.

Yesterday we had the lowest rain chances of the week. Today we have the highest so I loaded up the trailer and mower yesterday and headed for my mowing assignment. Several times the clouds darkened and the wind picked up. I thought for sure I would get caught in a thunderstorm but each time the clouds dissipated and I kept at it. My shirt soaked with sweat because of the high humidity.

The ground still remained wet in spots. Especially one low section at the bottom of little slope. I mowed a circle around that section steering clear where the water still stood. Later on just before I finished I got the bright idea that if I got a running start down the slope I could make it through the wet spot to complete the job. The first run worked well. The second I began spinning and sliding but made it out. That should have been my warning. No. I decided to try it again. MISTAKE.

The soft ground was miry clay. Once that clay caked on the back tires I started spinning but not moving forward. I tried to turn to the left and the right to get out. No go. I tried to rock back and forth to get out. It did not work either. I yelled out, "No!" Then I prayed for to help me get unstuck.

I tried going in reverse and started making a little progress. I put the hammer down and ended up, by the mercy of God, backing my way out of the mud to dry ground. I immediately gave God thanks.

It got me thinking. Have you ever been stuck in life? Maybe you got into something you really should have avoided. Maybe you got away with it a few times but then you got stuck and have been stuck for a long time. Maybe you keep making the same mistakes over and over again and are stuck. Maybe you are stuck in destructive thought patterns. I don't know what you might be stuck in but I do know the hopelessness and despair.

Could it be your way to deliverance is to put your life and mind in reverse and repent your way out of it? Could it be that before you can move forward you need to back up and get out of the same old rut? You could stay where you are and literally spend the rest of your life spinning your wheels without ever making any progress. You could actually just dig in deeper making it more difficult to get out.

Dating the same kind of people. Making the same money mistakes. Not acting maturely on the job. As you dig in deeper you find yourself in an impossible rut to get out. Let me exhort you to pray and repent. Put your life in reverse and repent your way out of the ruts. Then start out on a new track. Steer clear of the miry clay where danger lurks.

I don't want to live my stuck in a rut. I want to track with Jesus and go where He leads. I realize along the way I've strayed and wandered into miry clay. I've wasted much energy and time just spinning my wheels like I did on the mower yesterday. Even now I breathe a repentant prayer so that my life is leveraged to do the most good for God.

Psalm 40:1-2 (NKJV)
1  I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry.
2  He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps.