Free
Yourself! *
Free yourself from the chains on your
neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.
Isaiah 52:2
Britton watched as the wild mustang
walked right up to where the fence had been, and stopped, refusing to
take another step. This was the result of an extended conditioning
experiment to see if he could teach the horse to respect imaginary
boundaries.
First, Britton strung a heavy
page-fence around the small pasture; its woven-wire a strong barrier
against the mustang’s efforts to escape. Once the mustang grew
weary of straining against the fence, Britton stung double strands of
electric fence just inside the perimeter of the page fence, and
removed the higher, stronger fence.
The mustang, noticing the enclosure
looked different, edged cautiously up to the thin strands of wire.
Seeing less of a barrier, he sniffed, and then placed his nose
against the top strand…WHAM! the charge of electricity hit his
nose, causing him to lunge away! He returned and tested it again
receiving the same unpleasant jolt of electricity. Twice more he
tested the fence before keeping his distance.
Britton then removed the top strand,
and waited to see what the mustang would do. Seeing the wild horse
had no inclination to approach the final barrier, he removed the
fence altogether. For all intents and purposes the mustang could run
free if he so desired. But due to the fear of impending pain, he did
not move past the imaginary boundary.
†
Pain, regardless of its form, is a
powerful deterrent. It can render the strong powerless. Jolted by
life’s pain-filled circumstances, some of us refuse to risk freedom
from captivity for fear of the pain.
God wants us to know He will remove
each bar from the cage until there are none left. Yet, even with all
His help, at some point we must take a step toward freedom.
For even God will not make us submit ourselves to our greatest fears
in order to trade imaginary pain for true freedom.
Jesus came to redeem us, to set us free
from oppression, real or imagined. But He will only come so far. We
must decide to be free.
Prayer
“I come today, Lord
Jesus, trusting that You will lead me to safety. Set me free as I
take this first step. Amen.”
* Inspired by William Paul Young: Author
of The Shack ©2009
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