Why Can’t I Move Forward?
Have you ever asked yourself that question? Or maybe a related question, “Why am I stuck?”
There are exactly three reasons we don’t move forward in our faith.
Ignorance
Fear
Disobedience
That’s it. We’re either clueless, scared, or defiant.
How Ignorance Keeps Us Stuck
Recently I heard a story from a pastor (not ours) who had started a landscaping business in his late teens. One of his regular customers asked if he would be able to move some brush and branches from the back yard. Of course, this young entrepreneur readily agreed. More money baby! Our hero enlisted a friend with a pickup truck, and they backed into the customer’s yard behind the house. They began loading, and kept loading, and kept loading, and kept loading. There was far more debris than they expected. And the weight of it all was really pushing the truck down into the ground.
Finally, they loaded up the last of the branches and jumped into the cab of the truck. The problem was, they had been ignorant of the impact of two critical facts. The truck was two-wheel drive, and the ground was very saturated from recent heavy rains. You can probably predict the next part of the story. They tried to move forward and got stuck in the muddy yard. They applied more acceleration and just got deeper and deeper into the muck. Rocking back and forth failed as well. Once they got out and saw the tires buried halfway up the rims they gave up. They ended up calling a friend with a tow strap and four-wheel drive to get free…and had to do a lot of work to repair the customer’s yard.
Had they understood impact of the two-wheel drive and saturated ground and then used that knowledge to make appropriate changes to their plans the outcome might have been much more pleasant…and profitable.
The beginning of wisdom is: get wisdom; whatever else you get, get understanding.
-Proverbs 4:7 NABRE
You cannot move forward in any meaningful way without knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is being aware of truth. Wisdom is properly applying it. Even your salvation in the Lord came in part due to knowledge and wisdom. You had to know what the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross meant for you and apply that knowledge by asking forgiveness and repenting from sin.
We must read and understand the Word of God, and we must ask for His wisdom in order to best know how to move forward.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
-James 1:5 ESV
The Fear Factor
The next culprit keeping us from moving forward is fear. We are afraid of change and yet we are afraid of staying the same. What a conundrum! Fear wins out when the fear of change is greater than the fear of staying the same.
Truth be told, it’s never fear that holds us back. In fact, fear is nothing more than a reaction to a potential outcome. The outcome may be positive, negative, or neutral. The outcome may be one we know for sure will happen or that we are anxious may happen. The problem is not the fear. Everyone has fear. Even those we consider tremendously brave experience fear. No, the issue is not fear. The issue is our response to fear.
Right in front of me, in my study, I have a small sign. Here is a photo of it
It’s not a scripture quote, but simply a reminder. Feeling fear is unavoidable. Allowing fear to prevent you from following God’s leading is unacceptable…if you want to move forward. Here is something Jesus said to us about being afraid.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
-John 14:27 ESV
Jesus left His peace with us. He GAVE us His peace. His peace is a gift. But you know what is required to receive value from a gift? You have to accept it and you have to use it. If someone wraps up a new tool set for me and it’s under the tree on Christmas morning, it will do no good if it’s still on the floor in wrapping paper in the middle of February. Likewise, if I unwrap it, if I accept it, but then I put it on the shelf in the garage and never get out a single tool, then it’s is of no value to me.
The peace of Jesus is the same. You must accept it. You need to thank Him for His gift of peace. You must take it into your spirit. And then, when fear tries to hold you back, you must use His gift of peace. Using His gift of peace means consciously choosing to have peace even when the circumstances around you are chaotic. It means choosing peace when the outcome is uncertain. It also means choosing peace when the outcome is certain, but not what you would like it to be.
We can never move forward in our faith, we will always be stuck, if we allow fear to overpower peace in our decisions.
Disobedience is a Root Cause
I intentionally saved disobedience for last. Do you know why? One reason is this: ignorance and responding fearfully are both acts of disobedience. Check out these two passages:
But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
-Matthew 22:29-32 ESV
And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”
-Acts 18:9-10 ESV
In the first passage Jesus is responding to the Pharisees about how marriage will work in Heaven. But for our purposes the point is this, Jesus expects us to know the Bible well. “You are wrong because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” If we do not know God’s word well, we cannot be right in our understanding. The a bit later He says, “…have you not read…”. The expectation of Jesus is that people who want to know God and follow Christ read and work to understand the scriptures. To not do so is to disobey.
In the second passage, the Lord tells Paul, “Do not be afraid…”. Did you know that to not fear is one of the most frequent commands in the Bible? It shows up over and over in both the Old and New Testaments. If we allow fear to influence our decisions we are clearly in disobedience to God.
Dreams Die in Disobedience
Your dreams to serve the Lord well, to receive that desired, “Well done good and faithful servant” depend on obedience. Let me say it this way. God will not force you to obey everything He has commanded in the Bible. God also will not force you to obey everything He has revealed to you personally to do. In fact, you can disobey and ask forgiveness and still have eternal life with Him. Think I’m wrong? Many people in the Bible disobeyed God (for example Moses and David), yet still were shown as good examples after they came back to Him.
But the dream of Moses to enter the promised land died because of his disobedience. David experienced incredible loss because of his sin (disobedience) in committing adultery and ordering a murder.
Some of what God has for you and for me will not happen if we disobey. There are amazing, glorious outcomes in our lives we will never see because we disobeyed, even though we still get into Heaven. Some of our dreams in serving God will die and never be resurrected because of our disobedience. In fact, you may already know some that have died and are unrecoverable.
Let me say this. We know that God can give us beauty for ashes, and joy for mourning, but whatever burned and left behind ashes, and whatever died and resulted in mourning may not be restored. The consequences and resulting pain of loss may remain. Some things will not be restored in this life.
Bringing it Back Around
Remember our initial question, “Why Can’t I Move Forward?” The fact is, the main reason we don’t move forward with the Lord is disobedience. Whether it manifests as ignorance, embracing fear, or just not following the leading of God, the result is the same.
We will remain stuck until we are obedient. So now you ask, “But what if I’m sure I’ve now reached the point of complete obedience? Why am I still stuck?”
The answer is that you’re not stuck. This may not be what you want to hear, but it’s true, and I know so because I’ve lived it. Sometimes when we feel stuck we aren’t stuck…we are right where God wants us in this season, but we are seeing it only from our perspective.
Remember that God can see infinitely more than we can see. He has understanding and insight that we can’t even imagine. And His best for us at any given time may not be the same as what we think is best. Let me take us back to the words of Jesus.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
-John 14:27 ESV
Remember the gift that is His peace? It’s not just for when we are afraid of something He has called us to do. It’s also for when we are afraid that we have missed out on something we wanted. Sisters and brothers, when you are in a season where you feel stuck, but you also sincerely believe you’re completely obeying God, I suggest you focus on two things.
Keep obeying.
Keep accepting and using His peace!
And when the time is right, He will show you the new thing He has for you.
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
-Isaiah 43:19 ESV
Love you Jesus follower!
-Troy
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