Spiritually Stuck

The Apostle Paul and the Prophet Jonah aren’t often compared; yet, comparisons can be made. One similarity these two men shared: Neither man wanted to minister in the place God had chosen for him. One major difference between them, though, is that one was eventually willing to serve God in that place, and the other wasn’t. Significantly, both men became spiritually stuck after they came to know the Lord, and even after they entered the ministry.

            The Failure Factor

            One all-too-common factor that accounts for the spiritually stuck condition is failure. Of course, no one likes to fail! Especially if the mission is deemed important and the passion of one’s heart is devoted to its success! Case in point: Saul, who was later to become the Apostle Paul. Today the whole world knows who Paul is, but his eventual success in the ministry seemed doomed by the way it all began.

            The Book of Acts tells the story. After this most amazing conversion on the road to Damascus, Paul attempted to convert the very ones he had been allied with—without any success! Then he journeyed to Jerusalem and commenced a preaching campaign there. The results there, however, were discouragingly the same. Not one person got saved!

            Given the passion and brilliance of Paul, and given the drama of the blinding light and the voice straight out of heaven, one would think that Paul’s beginnings in the ministry would have been sensational. Converting the chief persecutor of the church was an amazing story, after all! And who could have told this story better than the man it actually happened to—Paul? In attempting to tell it, though, Paul saw, not meager results—something the faithful laborer could build upon—but absolutely no results! So eventually, with no ministerial successes to cite, Paul was lowered over the wall in a basket (almost like a common criminal) to escape the furor his presence had stirred up.

            As Paul walked away from Jerusalem that night, his mind must have been in a whirl. Vexing, perplexing thoughts must have blitzed in to inflict their repeated torments! It was only days earlier when the Lord appeared to Paul in the temple and told him in no uncertain terms to get out of town. But Paul, insisting that he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews and a Pharisee of the Pharisees, didn’t want to go! What better person could there be, he argued, to witness to these Jews!

            Paul was so certain that his passion had to be his mission he persisted in making his point! But unlike later debates, Paul didn’t win this one; and thus he was compelled to leave town at once—a failure in the ministry!

            The only thing Paul had achieved during the initial days of his ministry was to bring more trouble to the church. But when Paul got out of town—what do you know?—the church did great (Acts 9:26)!

            Disoriented in mind and lacerated in heart, Paul dropped out of sight. And, in terms of Scripture’s reporting, Paul wasn’t heard from again for another fourteen years? What happened? He was spiritually stuck!

            Just like this now revered apostle, there are other people who have also attempted to do such great things for God, only to see their efforts unrewarded and, seemingly, God showing them the door. Tormented by what could have been, and by what they think should have been, they now suffer silently in their defeat. And with each passing day, this defeat has become the defining event in their Christian walk. They can’t see through it, and they can’t see around it.

            However, when Paul returned to the scene more than a decade later, he was a changed man. In fact, unlike the man who argued with God in the temple that day, Paul no longer relied on his own laurels. So, to those who wanted him to hype his ministry with PR credentials, Paul said, “If I must boast, my boast is this: Years ago, when I was lowered over that wall and literally became ‘a basket case,’ God taught me a lesson I have never forgotten. I learned that it is only in weakness that I am able to lay hold of the power that can make a ministry successful.”

            For Paul in the New Testament, as with Moses in the Old Testament, many years went by before God could rescue these men from their spiritually stuck condition. Interestingly, at any given time during each man’s seeming absence from desired leadership, an onlooker may have concluded these lives were locked down in obscurity. Just like the seed sent deep into the ground, there was no indication of any forthcoming harvest. The dirt over the seed was like the dirt over the coffin: a declaration of finality.

            But then came that day when the dirt on each man’s life began to move. And what appeared was a miracle the ages now celebrate. Moses came forth, and Paul was sent, to the destiny God had ordained for each. But not until each man’s failure, and that which caused it, was transformed by the divine remedy of dying to self.

            Is it possible that God has put you on the shelf for a season, not as punishment, in the way you supposed, but because of this need to rid you of that which caused your failure? If so, please know the Lord loves you too much to let this problem continue. And while it may not seem so right now, that dream which died will yet be fulfilled, only in a more God-pleasing way. So let God do his ministry in your life before you extend ministry to others.