Devotions with Pastor Jerry

Have you ever heard of Gumbo; not the soup but a type of clay soil that is often too wet or too dry. When wet, it sticks to everything and when dry, it’s like concrete, hard to break up and cracks wide open.

The most undesirable piece of ground on our entire farm was the approximate 20-yard square patch of gumbo soil right in the middle of a particular field. If it was wet, you knew to avoid it, but when it dried, it dried on the surface only. You guessed it, every so often I was tempted to go through it, only to completely plug up the plow or disk, getting stuck in the middle of it. Further aggravating the dilemma by cleaning the impacted mud out of the implement with only a large tractor lug wrench to use as a shovel. Then getting so upset over the ordeal, to throw the wrench at the implement only to have it bounce right back usually striking me in the shin. Even on my wedding day, I charged through the same spot, sinking an 18-foot disk in the gumbo, requiring a long chain to eventually pull it back out.

You might say, lesson learned, well easier said than done, for over the years it seemed to re-occur.

We all have those gumbo-like spots in our lives that even though we knew not to go there, we go through them again. They may seem fine on the surface, but Satan often covers things over to deceive us, only to find out that deep within they catch us in their sticky grasp or block us from breaking free.

He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.Psalm 40:2

A man gave his son a job to do; son there’s a stone in the field go move it. The son tried and tried to no avail. He goes to his father worn out and says I tried but I can’t move it. The father reply’s there’s a prying bar against the shed. Yes, father I tried that, I’ve tried everything, it won’t budge. The father responded by saying my son you haven’t tried everything; You have not asked me your father!

Lord, rescue me from the mud; don’t let me sink any deeper! Psalm 69:14

God in his faithfulness reminds us of where we once were, and that no matter what the circumstance or gumbo spot, he is always there to see us through, forgive us, and help us once again, and again, and again, 70 x 7 and beyond.

Peter’s failure was not his defining moment, for Jesus paid for them all, Peters, yours and mine; all on the cross.

O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! Romans 7:24-25

What about you? Let go of whatever is holding you back, bogging you down, grab hold of Jesus, believe in Him and allow Him to set you free.
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Pastor Jerry