Exactly What it Feels Like

Scripture:
Some of you were locked in a dark cell,
cruelly confined behind bars,
Punished for defying God’s Word,
for turning your back on the High God’s counsel—
A hard sentence, and your hearts so heavy,
and not a soul in sight to help.
Then you called out to God in your desperate condition;
he got you out in the nick of time.
He led you out of your dark, dark cell,
broke open the jail and led you out.
Psalm 107:10-14

Observation: The psalmist is telling of how the Lord redeems people. In one stanza, people are sick from their sins and actions. In this stanza, people feel like they are in a hopeless, trapped situation. In both, the same thing happens ... "Then you called out to God in your desperate condition; he got you out in the nick of time."

Application: This is exactly - EXACTLY - what my life felt like!! I was in a dark cell. I felt hopeless, locked into a life of empty loneliness. I had spent years actively defying God's word, to the point of even believing that he did not, must not, exist, or if he did he was actually some irrelevant or even cruel entity. My heart grew heavy, and not one person ever once tried to help me out of this state. Then ... in total desperation, and literally as a last-ditch attempt to figure out life ... I called out to God.

And this is exactly - EXACTLY - what salvation feels like!! It feels like being pulled out of a dark cell, and not because the door opens and I walked out, but because God himself broke into the cell, grabbed me by the hand, and led me out.  In fact I declared I wouldn't act myself to change my life, and God himself acted.

I know this psalm to be true and accurate, and I now know others who would likewise proclaim it as well. I know redeemed believers who have suffered depression, addiction, hopelessness, and loss. I also know very well and without any doubt in my mind what my life would have been like if not for the Lord's loving salvation: I would have lived an empty life of loneliness, wandering from 'thing' to 'thing' without direction; I would have grown even angrier and more caustic, while also numbing everything about my life with more and more alcohol; I would now already be dead, and my soul a resident of hell in eternal torment.

God loves me too much to have allowed that. I can never repay him, but I know I can do more and more try to make a dent in that debt. With the years and the breath I have left, I will try to do so more and more.

Prayer: Lord, with the breath you give me, may I praise your holy name. May I sing of your glory and mercy and justice and love forever and ever. May I pronounce the name of the Lord and of Jesus daily, telling others of your love. May I be your hands and feet, and through your Church and on my own daily walk find ways to show you to those you bring into my path. You have done everything for me, and I have done so very little for you. Please forgive my sin and my evil thoughts, and by your Spirit may I live into the life you have given me. Amen, and amen.