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.