Craig Clouston

 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 dou-

ble 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 bar-

rier, 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.”