I’m writing to you from my kitchen, where I have been quarantined with the puppy until she is allowed to explore the rest of the house. I’m supposed to be packing for our trip to the beach this week, but instead I’m thinking about a bird. Yes, a bird.
You could hear the flutter of her wings from the corner of the garage. Alone and scared as she was, she dared not chirp. All she could do was fly, back and forth, from one corner to the other. When she stilled for a moment you could see her chest heaving fast and shallow breaths. As far as she could see, it seemed there was no way out. The little bird was trapped in the loft of our garage.
I called for Tom to come help me guide her out. Armed with broomsticks and pool noodles, we tried for what seemed like hours to coax the frightened bird out of the corner and into the fresh air. Finally, she caught a glimpse of the sun below the loft and broke free, flying wildly towards the spacious sky.
I chuckled as I tucked my pool noodle back into its slot in the garage, but I thought of the many times I had behaved just like the little bird. I thought of the moments in my life when I had felt alone and trapped, when the path set before me seemed little more than a cage. How many times did I run back and forth to things that offered no relief, only to miss the One that promised true freedom?
Filling my calendar with busyness? Or staying under the covers? Seeking out the friend that would tell me only what I wanted to hear? Indulging in mind-numbing books, social media, and television in a vain attempt to escape reality even for just a moment? Back and forth I ran to these things, forgetting that the only source of freedom lied not in things, but in the one true King.
When we cry out to God, He promises to hear us, to help us, and to rescue us. He also promises to set us free.
Freedom from sin.
Freedom from shame.
Freedom from bitterness.
Freedom from grief.
Freedom from anything that keeps us from living the abundant life Jesus intends for us to have in Him.
If you’re waking up this morning to a situation that feels like a cage, if you are living in circumstances you did not ask for, or if you find your heart crying out for freedom, trust that God longs to put you in a spacious place. Bring Him your honest heart and wait for Him to show you the way out. He knows the way. Let us run wildly towards His wide-spread arms.
Freedom awaits.
I called to the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and put me in a spacious place.
Psalm 118:5
