Broken Chains
"Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom,
prisoners suffering in iron chains,
for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel o the Most High...
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love...
for he breaks down gates of bronze
and cuts through bars of iron."
--Psalm 107:10-11, 13-16
God wants prisoners to have a new beginning. God wants to break barriers that keep prisoners from freedom and success.
I love the imagery in Psalm 107. When I take to focus on the words, I can almost hear the chains hitting the floor. I can see the look on prisoners' faces when the prison gates fall. I picture the people walking out, free, ready for a new beginning.
But
there’s so much that
happens before the chains
break and the gates fall. I can also see
the gloom that the writer describes. Prison
can be a place of sadness and loneliness. Years are the hardest currency
to use to pay off legal debts. We miss out on
so
much life that’s happening on
the outside.
The best part
of
Psalm 107, for me, is when the people turn
to God for help. These were people who didn’t originally want to have anything to do with God. They had rebelled against God in their earlier
days.
God has compassion
for
prisoners. It’s clear from
stories throughout the Bible that
God wants people in prison to have success and follow Him.
Psalm 107 will not
be
an exact blueprint
for
each person in prison who turns to God. He is not
going to physically release every person from prison who becomes a devoted follower. If you read a lot of stories about people in the Bible, you will see that
God is actively involved in everyone’s life, but
not
in the same exact
way with any two people.
God wants to do good things for every person, but He doesn’t
follow a predictable formula in the way He works. He may set one person
free from prison
(like Peter in Acts 12:1-19) and for another use incarceration as an opportunity to tell others about
God
(like Paul in Philippians 1:12-14).
God does not
see
prisoners as problems to be solved, but people to be loved.
No matter how God works in your life, one thing is certain: He wants to break your chains so you can
be
free. For you, that
may be your physical chains, your spiritual chains, your emotional chains, or your mental chains. Guilt or shame may be weighing you
down. You may be carrying the burden
of
a need to receive forgiveness or a need to forgive someone.
You
may feel the brokenness of an aching relationship.
Whatever is keeping you from the joy of a closer relationship with Jesus, God wants to break it apart.
Thought for Reflection:
Take some time to read and meditate on Psalm 107. Try to read it slowly.
The Psalms are actually poetry, so they're not like other reading material that we read quickly just to get information. After reading and meditating, think about what the Psalm is teaching you about who God is.
The Psalms are actually poetry, so they're not like other reading material that we read quickly just to get information. After reading and meditating, think about what the Psalm is teaching you about who God is.
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