Prisoners

“There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and chains, because they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High.”  Psalm 107:10 & 11  

Yesterday a friend sent me her reflections on her meditation of Psalm 107:10-16:

“Prisons are most often not a room with bars.  They are darkness of heart, deluded thinking, a twisted philosophy.

                        Saved, but not free

                        Still chained in misery.

                        Not condemned, but yet bound

                        By ideas that confound.

                        To live in victory

                        He must shackle himself to Thee.”

As I read her thoughts on this passage, I realized that believers stay chained to wrong thinking way longer than they should.  Yes, her thoughts are about believers!  We tend to think more about unbelievers when thinking about prisoners in the spiritual sense.  But too often believers cannot be effective in the wonderful, transforming work of the Most High God because they stay “chained in misery” to their own thinking. 

God has given us a great work to do here on earth.  There are two parts to this great work.  The first is the transformation of our lives into the image of Christ.  The other is drawing those bound by sin to Christ that they, too, will be transformed.  That drawing, many times, is done with words blessed to us by the Holy Spirit through THE WORD.  But the drawing is also done by a life lived differently, victorious over sin and responding to the issues of life through Biblical eyes.  Yes, we’ll get depressed, beat down, worn out.  But by the grace of God, we do not stay that way!

As I continue to read through Jeremiah, this morning I read this cry from Baruch in the 45^th chapter: “Ah, woe is me!  For the LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning and have found no rest.”  Jeremiah in his response to Baruch says, “But you, are you seeking great things for yourself?”  John MacArthur writes the following on this passage: “Baruch had his expectations far too high, and that made the disasters harder to bear.  It is enough that he be content just to live.  Jeremiah, who once also complained, learned by his own suffering to encourage complainers.”

Prisons for us as believers can be manifest in many ways: complaining, setting expectations too high, bitterness over hurts inflicted by others, mental mulling, and the list goes on.  What this does to our witness is devastating.  We have no bars because “if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.” (John 8:36)  So what do we do with this prison of our own making?  Set our face toward heaven and fight the battle, tooth and nail until God takes us out.  He is true.  He is there.  He is real.  He is in control.  Live what you say you believe!  Just keep getting up and fight the enemy of our souls.   As long as he can keep you in those prisons, even though you are saved, he can keep you from being effective for the gospel of Jesus Christ.   Reflect on 2 Peter 1:2-8.  Shackle yourself to Christ!!  He has already won the victory and we know that this effort is not in vain!!