Held Captive With No Escape… Hello weekend readers. I am musing on captivity. Sounds dumb, but you’ll get it. My first story is one that just hurt my heart. We had a woman who worked with us at Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center and they had to move. The day they left she brought us a cage of beautiful white doves and pigeons and asked us to get rid of them. We said we don’t kill birds and she said “they are just dumb birds who cares?” We told her would never do something like that so she took the cage and said I’ll drown them in the bath-tub before we leave. We grabbed the cage and told her to get out now before we get mad.

How would you feel like living in a cage with no escape? A. J. Gordon was a pastor in a large church in Boston. He was getting ready to lock up the church when a young boy in front of the sanctuary carrying a rusty cage in which several birds fluttered nervously. Gordon inquired, “Son, where did you get those birds?” The boy replied, “I trapped them out in the field.” Pastor Gordan said “what are you going to do with them?” He said “I’m going to play with them, and then I guess I’ll just feed them to our cat or maybe it would be fun to shoot them with my B-B gun.” Pastor Gordon said, “I’ll give you $2 for the cage and the birds.” The boy liked that deal and then he told the pastor “these are just dumb birds and they are worthless!” That didn’t sit with Pastor Gordon, he said “Son, sit down we need to talk.” I don’t know how that talk helped, but I’m pretty sure that young boy learned a few things he needed to know!

But the story doesn’t end there, instead the exchange was made with the $2 cage and birds. The boy left and the pastor walked around to the back of the church property, opened the door of the small wire coop and let the creatures soar into the sky. But wait, the story continues so hang on… The next Sunday he took the empty cage into the pulpit and used it to illustrate his sermon about Christ’s redemptive work. He said: “That boy told me the birds were too dumb to sing; but when I released them and they winged their way heavenward, it seemed to me they were singing, ‘Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed!’”

Isaiah knew about captivity and the loss of hope. In 40:27-31 [The Message Bible] he says: “Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, God has lost track of me. He doesn’t care what happens to me”? Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening? God doesn’t come and go. God lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles. They run and don’t get tired. They walk and don’t lag behind.”

Remember this: “Apart from Christ, we’re all held captive to sin with no hope of escape. But the good news is that Jesus purchased us with his own blood and redeemed us from the punishment of captivity. Because of that, we can be set free in Him!

So, let’s thank Jesus for the redemptive work he has given for our lives and the freedom he has given so we are not held captive or in bondage. He purchased all of this on the cross so we can fly like those birds, not held in captivity or fearful of no escape. We are free and share that with others who are still trying to break out of their bondage. In Jesus, we are indeed redeemed! AMEN.