It’s easy to feel like nothing is moving when life doesn’t go as planned. Maybe you’ve been praying, planning, and waiting, yet nothing seems to be happening and it can be so discouraging. But please take heart: just because you feel stuck doesn’t mean God isn’t moving.
Psalms 37:23-24 reminds us that “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.” This is a very beautiful promise that God secures and supports the paths of those who follow Him, no matter how difficult the path may look.
And the Bible is full of reminders that speak to this truth! In this blog post, I’ll share 5 lessons we can learn from Scripture when life feels stuck and hope seems so far away.
1. Lesson from Jonah: God Moves Even in the Dark
If there’s someone in the Bible who was literally stuck in darkness, it would be Jonah. He shows us what it means to be fully trapped – sitting in the belly of the great fish, surrounded by darkness, silence, and what must have felt like the end of his story.
But here’s what’s so powerful: it only took one thing for God to redirect Jonah’s path toward where he was meant to be – repentance.
Jonah didn’t run away out of fear alone, he ran because Nineveh was Israel’s fiercest enemy. These were people known for cruelty and violence, and Jonah didn’t want them to experience God’s mercy. He even admitted later, “That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love” (Jonah 4:2).
But inside the fish, Jonah finally prayed. He surrendered his stubbornness and rebellion to God. And when Jonah eventually preached in Nineveh, something remarkable happened: The Ninevites actually listened. From the king on his throne to the poorest villager, the entire city fasted, prayed, and humbled themselves before God (Jonah 3:5-9).
And true to His character, God showed mercy.
Even in Jonah’s rebellion, even in the darkness of that fish, God was moving – taking Jonah right where he needed to go, both physically and spiritually, so that an entire city could experience His compassion.
2. Lesson from the Israelites: God Provides When Life Feels Circles
The Israelites knew what it was like to feel as though life wasn’t moving forward. What should have been an 11-day journey to the Promised Land turned into 40 long years of wandering through the wilderness (Deuteronomy 1:2-3).
Day after day, year after year, they walked the same dry paths, set up the same tents, packed them up again, and followed the same pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22). They watched entire generations pass away in the desert. Can you imagine how discouraging that must have felt? Watching time slip by, wondering if they would ever reach the place God had promised them?
And yet – even in their delay – God never left them. He didn’t abandon them when they grumbled for food or questioned His plan. Deuteronomy 29:5 tells us, “During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.”
Every single morning, fresh manna appeared with the dew (Exodus 16:14-15). When they thirsted, water flowed from the rock at Horeb (Exodus 17:6). Their clothes never wore out, their feet never swelled (Deuteronomy 8:4), and His presence never left them – not once.
It didn’t feel fast and it didn’t feel efficient. But it was never purposeless. God was teaching them to trust Him daily before He brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey. He was shaping their hearts to love the Giver more than the gift.
This wilderness season shows us something important: what looks like delay to us may actually be preparation in God’s hands.
Sometimes the circles we walk in feel meaningless – another rejection, another closed door, another prayer unanswered. But if the Israelites teach us anything, it’s this: waiting seasons are not wasted seasons. God uses them to build trust, to teach dependence, and to remind us that His presence is our true Promised Land long before we reach the destination.
3. Lesson from Esther: God Gives Strength in High-Pressure Moments
Esther lived through one of the most high-stakes moments in the Bible. A decree had gone out to kill all the Jews in the Persian empire. The only person with a chance to intervene was Esther, a young queen who could be killed for approaching the king uninvited.
Her cousin Mordecai’s words to her have become famous: “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).
Esther didn’t know how the king would respond. She didn’t know if she’d live to see the next day. But she fasted, prayed, and walked into that throne room anyway.
Sometimes we face moments that feel just as heavy – a final interview, a big decision, a situation that could change everything. Like Esther, we don’t always get to see the outcome in advance.
But God equips us for the moments He calls us to. The strength we need often shows up as we take the step of faith, not before it.
4. Lesson from Job: God is Present When We Fear Losing What We Have
Job’s story is one of the most heart-wrenching in Scripture. In a single day, he lost his wealth, his servants, and all ten of his children (Job 1:13-19). Later, his health was taken too. Everything that had given him a sense of security was gone.
And yet, in the middle of his grief, Job spoke these words in Job 1:21: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
But make no mistake – Job wasn’t stoic or emotionless. He tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell to the ground in deep sorrow before he said those words (Job 1:20). For chapter after chapter, he wrestled with God, questioned, lamented, and poured out his anguish.
By the end of the book, Job encountered God more deeply than ever before. He said in Job 42:5, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.”
Job shows us that even in loss, even in heartbreak, God Himself is our truest treasure. His presence doesn’t leave us when the bottom falls out. And sometimes it’s in the seasons where everything else is stripped away that we see Him most clearly.
5. Lesson from Hannah: God Meets Us in Our Exhaustion
Hannah longed for a child for years. Every year, she went with her family to the tabernacle to worship the Lord, and every year she carried the weight of disappointment back home (1 Samuel 1:3-7). Her rival taunted her relentlessly. Her husband tried to comfort her but didn’t fully understand the depth of her grief.
One day, Hannah reached her breaking point. 1 Samuel 1:10 says, “In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly.” She poured out her heart so honestly and so desperately that the priest thought she was drunk (1 Samuel 1:13-14).
But God saw her. He heard her prayer. And in time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to Samuel, one of Israel’s greatest prophets (1 Samuel 1:20). Even before the answer came, God met her in the middle of her anguish.
Hannah shows us that God doesn’t ask us to bring polished prayers or perfect composure. He invites our raw honesty, our weariness, our tears – and He meets us there with compassion and grace.
Final Encouragement
The God who redirected Jonah in the belly of the fish, provided for Israel in the wilderness, strengthened Esther before the king, moved even through imperfect faith, stayed near to Job in his suffering, and met Hannah in her exhaustion – He hasn’t changed.
The same God who was faithful to them is faithful to you.
So if life feels stuck right now, remember this:
- Darkness doesn’t mean God has stopped moving.
- Waiting doesn’t mean God has forgotten you.
- Imperfect prayers don’t mean God won’t work.
- Loss doesn’t mean God has abandoned you.
He is always at work, often in ways you can’t yet see, carrying out His plan for your good and His glory. Even here. Even now. He is moving.
