Free Yourself!
April 8
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 strung 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.
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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 cannot 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.”
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