Between a Rock and a Hard Place

"Caught between a rock and a hard place" - I hate to say this but I love this saying! I think it truly speaks to life. The other one that I like which really has no meaning was "put want in one hand and s*** in the other and tell me which one wieghs more" - of course this one is just from my mother who used this saying to make a point. I like the the first statement much more! I mean think about it a rock and a hard place makes it sound like you really have yourself in a place that you can't get out of and you can't go back. Right? That's really what it means, when you get right down to it you don't want to go forward and you can't go back. And you find yourself inevitably between a rock and a hard place; somthing like the turtle in this picture. And since I'm on a 'saying' kick this "picture is worth a thousand words!" I wonder if he thought after he got over the log he would be home free, my guess, yes. And I'm guessing it took a lot of work, worry, struggling. scratching, tucking in, and wiggling before he got himslef out of that hardplace, or rock.

I have found myself in those places too; found myself between rocks and hardplaces and struggling to figure out what to do without being able to go back. And usually when I'm in those positions I tend to start reminising on how exactly I got myself into those places. How it happened that the rock that I moved out of only lead to a hardplace where I started wishing I could go back to the rock! I wouldn't call that poor decision making, I would call it misleading, of which I am very familiar. Why misleading? Because when I make a decision the result is brought about by the option of several choices. Misleading is truly the more correct description of finding myself between a rock and a hardplace because the decision, at that time, only offered one option. The option that I see, the only option that seems the way, and it is more than 100% of the time (if there is such a thing) misleading. And its usually at those time, the times when I finally get away from the rock and realize that the hardplace is ahead of me, that I probably need help. (Notice I wait until the last possible moment to ask.) I also tend to look to people, money, things, etc, to get the help and generally find no one to help. Psalms 18:41 "They cried for help, but there was no one to save them -". I'm not sure but I believe that this was in reference to the Isrealites trying to get out of Egypt and my personal laziness has delayed me in reading on in this passage. But it sounds like the Isrealites to ask for help of man and look for help when they were nothing more than slaves. (I have to say that the only thing I have really learned about the Isrealites is that they wanted someone else to lead them and they tend to whine a lot ~ hummm.) And yet, it was a man who God sent to lead them out of Egypt and it was right away from their rock into their hardplace (and for 40 yrs I might add!). I am in a hardplace and I'm trying to find that 'man' to lead me out of it and without misleading direction, this by the way is not working out to well for me, Moses hasn't showed up. So who am I looking for? And who do I get to help me out of this place?? Anyone...I'm open for suggestions at this point. Or am I? I don't want to be mislead, I do that for myself quite efficiently without someone else helping. Psalms 22:11 "Do not be far from me, trouble is near and there is no one to help." I love David, I just have to say that he could go from one sentence being angry and mad at God to the next breath praising Him and asking for His help. Isn't that what David is doing here? "There is no one to help", so if there is no one to help, no man to offer his assistance, support, confidence, direction, why would David ask God to stay near? What could He possibly do or offer at this point? And whould He even listen after the ramblings of angry words and dwendling faith? I know, as I'm sure you do, that He did help David. But I'm willing to bet that David didn't know whether or not God would help...but he had faith.
Between a rock and a hardplace. Maybe I'm suppose to be here for a while and stop looking for a way out. Maybe I'm just suppose to be...and find faith, again.





psalms 18:41; 22:11


2chron 14:11