The sighing of the prisoners

Psalm 79:11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;

In doing my daily Bible reading recently, I came across this verse. And, as is usual when the Lord wants to teach me something, a phrase stuck out to me. 

I work 12-14 hours a day, so many times my morning Bible reading is done through a Bible App where I can listen to Max McLean read the King James Version as I'm driving down the road in the early hours while most folks are still asleep. This particular morning that phrase, "The sighing of the prisoners" might as well have been spoken by Mr Max using a bullhorn to speak it into my ear from the backseat of my truck. 

I've both listened to and read that whole Psalm several times since then. This morning it became our Bible lesson in our church. But, here on this blog, we'll cover a few things that were not covered in the study in the church service today. 

There are many types of people in the world. Some are loud and arrogant. Some are quiet and shy. Some are somewhere in between. Some are if you'll indulge my hit song from childhood reference, "From Boston to Denver and every town in between." (Manilow, It's a Miracle) 

But whoever we are and wherever we may be from, we all have one thing in common. We will all, at some point (or several points) in our lives, wind up in prison. Oh, not a literal penitentiary, but rather a mental/spiritual prison. 

Now, there are as many reasons for winding up in these prisons as there are different types of people in the world. 

Some prisons are prisons of circumstance. 

Life happens. Storms hit. Companies close or change plans. Family members die of one thing or another. Or, as we found out with Covid-19, diseases break out and spread. Bad things happen to both good and bad people.

Matthew 5:45

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

And when these things happen, we feel trapped. We feel overwhelmed. We start pulling on bars. We start yelling for the guard and saying there must be some mistake. We start digging at concrete corners with any spoon we can find in a vain effort to try and dig our way out. And we keep saying, "There's got to be a way out of this."

Some prisons are prisons of our own making.

We started digging at something or other and piling our digging around us. So intent are we on our goal that we don't realize that we're slowly building a series of walls around us. Before we know it, we're surprised to find that we've built our own little cell around us. Worse, the floor of our little cell is a hole in the floor and we're standing below ground level, and getting out is not going to be easy- being surrounded by walls, as well. 

Some prisons are made by our enemies.

Supposedly, when some people want to hunt Monkeys, they take small jars and put in something that entices the Monkey to reach in and grab their prize. The problem is, that the neck of the bottle is so small that they cannot pull their hand back out as long as they hold onto their newly gained prize. When the hunter checks the trap, if the Monkey refuses to let go of the prize, it will become captured or killed by the hunter.  This is how temptation works on us. We reach for the shiny thing because we just have to have it. But, when we grab it, the enemy says, "Gotcha!" Only if we let go of our shiny prize (repent) can we escape the clutches of our enemy. 

If we don't let go, then the enemy takes us to a prison, not of our making. And this prison will be very well constructed and extremely hard to get out of. Our enemy doesn't want us to escape, after all. He may or may not have been "kind enough" to allow us to keep our new prize we really don't need. But, even with the prize, we are still well and truly trapped. (Hint: he probably won't let you keep it)

But, in all these situations and more, there are keys that will open the prison doors and let us out. 

Key 1: Repent. 

When we have sinned and gotten ourselves into prison, the first step to finding an exit is not trying to manipulate our situation. It's not begging others to bail us out of the consequences. The very first thing we should do is seek God in prayer, asking where we've sinned (if we are unaware- many times we know). Once we know our sin (or sins), we must honestly and sincerely repent before God and ask for forgiveness. Once we've been forgiven, that's one part of exiting our prison. 

Key 2: Learning the lesson

Now, if we haven't sinned, but find ourselves in prison, then God has allowed us to be attacked and captured by the enemy. If he's done this, then a) God is testing us like he did Job, and b) we have a lesson to learn- or lessons to learn. 

But, you say, Job didn't learn a lesson. 

Really? 

Among other things, God kept saying to him, "Where were you when I did this, or that?" In other words, God was telling Job, "Yes, you are a righteous man, but I am God and I can do or allow anything I wish. You have no right to demand anything from me or demand for me to do anything." (Name it claim it folks please take note)

Sometimes, we as humans have to be reminded that we are not in charge. That God is God alone and truly, as creator, has the right to do whatever he wishes. I have no right to tell God what he can't do or can't allow. The minute I accuse him, I'm out of line and guilty of iniquity- self-willed sin. I'm judging God- something I have no right to do.

But, whatever lesson we need to learn in order to gain the second Key to the exit door, we need to ask God to show us and learn it ASAP. In most cases, the quicker we learn the lesson, the quicker we end our imprisonment. 

Key 3: Asking for God (the judge) to let us out.

When we get to the end of ourselves, we need to appeal to the judge.

Psalm 79:11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;

Ultimately, in the spirit realm, there's only one Judge- Jesus (God almighty). 

The devil is a prosecutor. The Bible calls him "the accuser of the brethren." (Revelations 12:10)

This is also why Scripture calls "the MAN Christ Jesus" our "advocate (defense attorney)" (1 John 2:1)

So, we need to throw ourselves on the mercy of the court, many times in honest repentance. 1 John 1:9 comes to mind. But, whether we're guilty or not, we still need the judge to release us.

Does it work?

Israel was guilty and cried out to God, and God sent judges at different times to free them from their oppressors. 

Israel was not guilty but was put into slavery by Egypt. They cried out to God, and God sent Moses and the rest is history! 

Joseph was not guilty, but stayed faithful to God and prayed. God sent Pharoah a dream and not only set him free but made him the number 2 ruler in the land. 

It works. God responds to the cries of his people. 

But, one more thing. 

Key 4: If you are innocent, don't lose you're integrity in your frustration. 

Job complained about his situation. He pointed out his righteousness. He had to repeatedly defend his integrity. Even his wife's frustrated attack, "Curse God and die," was an admission on her part that Job was not in the wrong. 

But, one thing Job did not do was sin by accusing God with his words or actions. 

If we find ourselves in a prison and we're innocent, it's normal to be frustrated. But, we cannot allow our frustration to turn to anger at God. This will cause us to say or do things that will be sinful, and then our prison will get worse. 

Joseph stayed faithful and was promoted. 

Job stayed faithful and got back double what he lost.

And remember, Jesus said, "he that endureth until the end, the same shall be saved." 

So hold on my friend. At the end of this prison, there is forgiveness. At the end of this prison, there is joy. At the end of this prison, there is promotion. Just hold on to Jesus with all your might and watch him work.