Confessions of God's People Stuck in the MiddleSample

Each of us is somewhere in the middle of our stories. No one's story is finished yet, but I approach situations like I am on the story's last page.

• "Lord, things are just not happening at work the way they are supposed to!"
• "Jesus, I lost my patience again. This is how I am going to be forever."
• "Heavenly Father, I can't seem to get a good night's sleep. I guess I'll never know what it feels like to be rested again."

When I am stuck in the middle of a situation where I can't figure out the ending, it can feel discouraging. I want to know how it all turns out.

I struggle to relate to people in the Bible because it all worked out for them. I know how their story ends.

• I know Job lost everything, but God had a plan to redeem him and restore his life.
• I know Nicodemus couldn't get past his confusion, but Jesus shared with him some of the most famous passages of the Bible. (John 3:16)
• I know Elizabeth battled with infertility, but in the end, she had a son named John the Baptist.

When we get to the end, we forget the middle.

The middle is where transformation happens! In this study, we will look at different people in the Bible who are stuck in the middle. For each devotion, we will observe these four things:

1) the confession of the person in the middle of a difficult situation

2) God's response to us

3) questions to ponder

4) follow up Scripture readings to see how it all turns out

Spoiler alert! They are all happy endings. That spoiler alert doesn't just apply to these individuals. Every one of our situations has happy endings because God is writing our stories, and we know the end.

As you read, notice how the men and women won't use their names in their confessions because their situation becomes their whole identity. God always flips our identity from where we are to WHO we are. God always calls us by name and gives us a new identity as a child of our Heavenly Father. Your identity is not your situation. You are loved, redeemed, and called by name. You are His!

* These are works of creative license and are not excerpts from the Bible. They are works of fiction based on the facts taken from the Bible stories. For your reference, the Scriptures used are listed each day.