God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. – Psalm 46:1, KJV

Imagine you are standing still in a dark, musty room. Above your head, just out of reach, is a small window that lets a modicum of natural light into the room. As you turn around you see and hear the officer shut the steel-barred door that is the only way in or out of your jail cell. You’re trapped, and there is no escaping unless someone opens that door from the other side. You are alone, you are in despair, and your own actions put you where you are.

Whether we know it or not, this has happened to all of us, in a spiritual sense. We’ve been trapped in a spiritual prison cell countless times.  When we sin against our Lord, we bind ourselves with chains of guilt. When Satan attacks, we allow him to throw us into the pit of despair. When we fail to carry on a constant conversation with God through daily Bible reading and prayer, we lock ourselves in a room filled with loneliness. In each case, we become trapped for one reason and one reason only – we fail to take God’s offer of help.

When we sin, all we need do to shed the chains of guilt is repent, ask for forgiveness, and God will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) When Satan’s attacks cast us into depression, all we need do to climb out of the pit of despair is cast all of our care upon Christ, for He cares for us. (1 Peter 5:7) And all we need do to escape the four walls of loneliness is simply to talk to the Friend who has promised to never leave us nor forake us. (Hebrews 13:5; Proverbs 18:24)

God is always there, holding the spiritual jail cell door open for us. All we have to do to escape our self-made prison is to accept the truth that God is able and is willing to help. Once we accept this truth and act upon it, the truth shall set us free. (John 8:32)

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