Many of our sorrows seem to go on forever, just like being in a rut. The incurable disease, financial difficulties and family problems are a few examples of being in a rut. In this article we will look at being in a rut from the Bible’s pages.
When we read the Bible, decades often pass before us in minutes, and we may miss the ruts the saints of old were in. Abraham waited for Isaac over two decades. Joseph was either a slave or in prison for thirteen years. The list seems endless.
There are two ways to respond to being in a rut. One way is to take matters into our own hands if we can. The other way is to wait on the salvation of God.
Abraham is an example of the first method. When Sarah remained barren he took Hagar and had Ishmael. This did not solve the problem but made it worse. To this day, Jews are paying for Abraham’s mistake in the form of hostility from their Arab neighbors, who descended from Ishmael.
Joseph, in contrast, did not take matters into his own hands. As much as Potephar trusted him, he could have escaped, if he wanted to, but did not.
Moses gives us the reason God puts us in a rut. He spent forty years in a howling wilderness tending sheep. Before he went there he was proud and wondered why the Jews did not recognize him as the deliverer. After he was in the wilderness for forty years, he was a humble man who knew he could not know anything without God’s help. Thus ruts are made to make us better people.
A rut is often given to us by God. What we need to say is: “Lord what are you teaching me?”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One