Sometimes in our lives we can feel like all we are doing is sitting on the bench spiritually. We see and hear about all our friends going on 6 month mission trips and starting ministries, etc...We feel dry and discouraged because we feel like we have "sold out" somehow by living what we perceive as a "ordinary life." To sum it up we feel...stuck. Stuck at home, school or a dead end job.
A lot of people think that those who are doing great things for God have reached some sort of spiritual height and that is why God is using them. So they just wait around hoping they'll get to that level so they can serve the Lord. Those type of people never serve the Lord. As soon as a person is converted they begin serving, warts and all.
A lot of people in the bible I'm sure felt as if they were "benched" David for example, knew he was to be king but got stuck running from Saul for a long period of time before he finally started doing what he knew he was meant to do.
Recently in my time with the Lord I felt led to go on walk down the road outside my house. I was not dressed for the occasion whatsoever but walked out the door into the cold anyway. As I was walking the first thing I noticed was the beautiful sky, I didn't even think about the cold wind that was making my eyes water and sending shivers through me. When I started to focus on the fact that I was cold I began complaining. "Jesus, why are you making me do this I don't like it." It didn't take long for the Holy Spirit to punch me in the soul by saying "Dalton, it's not your circumstances that need to change...it's you." I then remembered that when I had first walked outside and saw the beautiful sky I wasn't focused on the cold. The Lord showed me that even though we may not be exactly where we want to be that there is beauty in every situation if we will take the time to notice it.
So, if God has you sitting on the bench. Stop complaining and sit on the bench in obedience. Before long you'll be in the game!
Philippians 2:14-15 states "Do everything without grumbling or complaining so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world..."
Submission to the will of God must be inward as well as outward.