Prisons have a really interesting role to play throughout scripture.
From Joseph being imprisoned on false rape allegations to Paul and Silas being imprisoned on false social disruption charges. There’s something about the prison that seems like the environment ripe for Kingdom opportunities.
What I tend to get from those prison episodes is not so much the desperate position of social isolation and being deprived of liberties that others enjoy, it’s the fact that people of God are no more confined in that setting as they would be anywhere else. It’s as if their relationship with God gives them a greater sense of liberty wherever they are physically located. It’s like the reverse of the problem Israel had when they left Egypt. Israel may have left the country physically, but the country never left them for at least a generation in the desert. For those people of God imprisoned it was a case that you can take the person out of a free environment but you cannot take their inner state of freedom away from them.
This is the great change that God brings to the life of those who believe. When Jesus sets that man or woman free, they really are free indeed. Slamming a door in their face, restricting their engagement with others, limiting their food and water intake and harshly treating them does not break their spirit. Indeed, as they’re faced with the oppressive physical conditions, there is something inside them that cultivates a greater desire for the Spirit of God in them. Whether demonstrated in further meditation on God’s word to them or expression of praise and thanksgiving to God, there is something irresistibly joyful about them even in those circumstances.
The joy cannot be contained by the monuments of imprisonment. The peace cannot be quelled in the drudgery of imprisonment. Even the character of kindness, compassion and mercy isn’t diminished, but has further reason to flourish in that setting. All because the connection to God sees those opportunities where others would see lockdowns.
(Photo by Denny Müller on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 