A few years ago, I visited a wildlife refuge not far from my house. The place was depressing! One thing in particular really saddened me. There was a circular cage with a lioness inside, but what made this cage especially intolerable, was that it was located within an area where other animals, like deer, roamed freely. The poor lioness would watch the deer running around her cage as her hunting instincts battled to take over. Obviously, she couldn't do anything because she was trapped in that cage. I thought it was extremely cruel to have her locked up in there.
I observed as her body prepared for the hunt. Her muscles contracted, her body scrunched up tightly, ready to pounce on the prey. She would stay very still, quietly planning her attack; I could even imagine her salivating. The fact that she was in a cage did not take away her wild instincts. I wondered how long she might have been in there and left the place on a low note, but didn't think much of it after a few days.
Then, a few months ago, during worship time at my church, God brought this image back to mind. I was singing and worshiping in the middle of a very deep brokenness. I told the Lord that I felt like that lioness, trapped in a cage. That I had been living with that feeling for many years: seemingly ready to "attack," using the instincts and abilities that He had given me. I was willing and waiting, while all around me opportunities passed by, dreams, people that achieved their goals and who, from the outside, seemed to be living in their sweet spots. I, on the other hand, felt trapped no matter how hard I tried; I felt limited and resigned to living a life of desiring to be what He designed me to be, but unable to do so.
Suddenly, in my mind, I saw images, almost like I was watching a documentary. I saw myself running through a field of dry, tall, beige-colored grass, like the ones in African savannas. But it wasn't me in my human body, it was as if I were a lioness, running free and very fast, the wind brushing strong against my body. I was moved to tears as I felt the Lord speak to my heart, "I didn't create you to live trapped. I came to set you free, to open your cage so you can run after me. So you can be all I designed you to be. I am taking you out of your cage." (Photo: ArvoMont.com)
It was a brief, but healing moment. There, surrounded by thousands of people, I knew God was breathing encouragement over me. He was infusing peace and hope in my soul. It wasn't like a magic wand, though. Sometimes getting out of a valley can take a long time. But, it was a lesson. One of many that I would live through this year. Lessons that somehow aligned perfectly with past experiences. You would have thought they were random events, unrelated to each other, but the truth is that God had allowed them to later teach me something through them. What an amazing Teacher we serve! I think that God wanted to teach me (and continues to do so) several things through this experience with the lioness. I'd like to share some of them with you:
1- God does not play cruel jokes on us. He does not find pleasure in seeing us trapped and suffering. He came to give us freedom. TRUE freedom. Brokenness, pain, and waiting can make us feel like He's withholding things from us, and we even doubt His love and goodness. We project human characteristics on God, based on our bad experiences with other people. We think He will leave us because others have abandoned us. We think He will get tired of blessing us because He has already given us too much, as if His gifts would run out, or he were some sort of genie or Santa Claus. That He gets tired of hearing us with the same things over and over, forgetting us, like those friends who disappear in the middle of our darkest storms. That He doesn't really love us because we are unlovable, and so on. However, His goodness does not cease because we go through problems. He said that in this world we will have troubles, but to trust Him because He has overcome the world. His love is not altered by us. It is who He is. GOD IS LOVE. Think about that! He is not like us, He is light, and in Him there is NO darkness (see 1 John). He is constant, even when we are inconstant.
2- At times, what can seem like a cage, could just be a trial, a testing of our faith so it can be purified, a call to remove impure things, idols, and even unbelief from our lives. I think one of the things that I need to learn most is to not base my faith on my circumstances. To believe Him, even when "it stinks, because it's been four days" (Jn.11:39). To believe that even if faced with death itself, He can bring forth life. To believe that He will fulfill His purpose in me...to draw near to God believing "he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Heb.11:6).
3- Being "imprisoned" often helps us truly value freedom and the things that appear to be ordinary in a world in which the norm is to never be satisfied. When we suffer, we open our hearts with compassion for those who are going through worse situations. We get sick and then realize what a privilege it is to be in good health. All it takes sometimes is a canker sore in the most inopportune place on our tongue (right where it scrapes against your teeth every time you swallow) to make us grateful for the days when nothing aches or hurts. Then we remember the Christian martyrs, persecuted disciples, Paul stuck in prison for years at a time, and those who died without seeing what they were hoping for, yet never renouncing their faith (Heb.11). We bring our perspective into focus and remember God's sovereignty and His mercy and grace to somehow work all things out for our good (Rom.8).
4- A delay doesn't mean your answer will never come. But I think that God wants us to choose to worship, honor, and trust in Him, even when all we have left is a little grain of faith. In these droughts and famines we go through, we learn that Jesus' words are true: "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mt.4:4). We truly cannot live without His words. We experience the miracle of being restored, revived, and released from our cages and prisons by the power of those words written thousands of years ago. Then, and only then, can we walk in His freedom and run after Him with passion, with abandonment. Not focusing on our prison, but on our Deliverer.
"I am oppressed and needy; may the Lord
think of me. You are my helper and my deliverer;
my God, do not delay." Psalm. 40:17
5- God's word is true nourishment and freedom. I had a difficult time trying to choose scripture for this post. There are so many verses that have been "bread" for me this year, it's almost impossible to choose just one. It never ceases to amaze me how God can speak to each of us through His word, which is "alive and active" (Heb.4:12). If you find yourself in a prison cell or in a cage, I want to encourage you to eat His words as if your life depended on it. Even when you don't feel like it, read the Bible. You will realize that only Jesus has "words of eternal life" (Jn.6:68). You could read all the self-help books in the world and still live hungry and thirsty for truth. Only God's word has true power to transform and satisfy. Jesus came to fulfill what Isaiah prophesied thousands of years ago:
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has
anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the
captives and release from darkness for the prisoners..." Is. 61:1 (bold mine)
It's time to come out of your cage and run; free to be all that He designed you to be!
I'd like to share this song with you, which has meant a lot to me this past year.