Do you no longer enjoy your job, but feel like you have no other options? Are you in a house you can’t sell? Has the flame gone out in your marriage? Does the thought of dealing with the same old stuff day after day make you want to quit? Do your present circumstances have you feeling stuck? Like there’s no way out? Like this is as good as it’s going to get and this isn’t all that good?

I’ve been there. I’ve felt like there was no way out, no path to something better. I have felt stuck in circumstances with no way out.

It’s a discouraging place to be. It feels like God doesn’t see or understand. It can feel like God got you into something you didn’t ask for and isn’t doing anything to help you get out.

I distinctly remember a moment when I was cleaning the dining room at a Kentucky Fried Chicken when I was 16-years-old. It wasn’t a lot of fun and I usually came home feeling slick from all the grease used to fry the chicken. This particular day, I remember thinking that I wouldn’t always be working there, that I was going on to something greater.

But what about those times when it doesn’t feel like things are going to improve, when you feel like your present circumstances are as good as it’s going to get? Is there any hope?

I wonder if David felt stuck as a shepherd. Did he know he had the blood of a king running through his veins? Did he feel the gift of leadership going unused? Did he look around at all those sheep and endless hills and wonder if that was it, if that was as good as it would ever get?

There’s a verse in 1 Chronicles 17 that can give us hope no matter what circumstances we’re facing. God tells the prophet, Nathan, to go to speak to David. The message begins like this:

“I took you from the pasture and from following the flock, to be ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone…”

Maybe David didn’t know it or feel it, but God saw him out there in the lonely places with his sheep. God knew what He was going to call David to do and was preparing him for it.

David didn’t have to lobby for the throne. He didn’t have to know the right people or have the right connections. He didn’t have to try and get himself noticed.

All David had to do was what was in front of him. Shepherd the sheep. He may have felt alone and forgotten, but God never took His eyes off David. God was with him wherever he went.

Are you at the point of giving up? Do you want to quit?

Don’t give up. Stay in there and be faithful. God sees you. He hasn’t forgotten you. At the right time, He can change your circumstances. He can change someone’s heart. He can give you the breakthrough you need. He can do what seems impossible to you.

If He can take an unknown shepherd and make him king, then you can trust Him to also work on your behalf. Hang in there. There’s nothing God can’t do.

You may feel stuck, but you’re not. Your time is coming.