Unstuck

“He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.” (Psalm 40:2 NLT)

I saw the following scenario on a TV show: A bomb explodes and one of the bystanders gets impaled with a long piece of metal.  The injured guy is filled with fear, and he can hardly move. He asks others to pull this object out of his chest. One of them, a doctor, cautions against this, explaining that this metal is plugging up the injured man’s wound and preventing him from bleeding to death. He convinces the injured man to stay calm and wait patiently for a skilled surgeon.

When a loved one is wounded, immobilized, or stuck, our natural instinct is to do whatever we can to get them out of that situation. We hate to see the panic in their eyes, the pain and discomfort, the helplessness. We want to do something instead of just standing by. Little do we know that we could injure them further in our attempts to get them unstuck. Their present condition may be uncomfortable and awkward, but it could be worse. Being stuck but stable may be safer than spiralling downward. Although it may feel counter-intuitive, the best approach is to wait patiently for God to handle the situation. He is skilled at helping those who are wounded and stuck. Our role is to help those who are injured to stay calm and wait for the Lord.