Broken chains

DEVOTION

PSALMS

BROKEN CHAINS

Ps 107:10-16

10 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. 12 So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. 13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains. 15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, 16 for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.

NIV

We have several stanzas of a similar format and somewhat of the same subject, so let us just deal with each one for they are slightly different as well. This stanza deals with those who sat in darkness and the deepest gloom. These are the prisoners in iron chains. The cause for this condition is rebellion against the words of God. Is not our life before we finally heard his voice? We were sitting in the darkness of the deepest gloom. We refused to listen to anything about the truth of God, in fact, we were in the worst of a rebellious movement as we did not even believe anything could be a result of God for it was all natural occurrence and that we did not believe humans could even comprehend the existence of the idea of God. This is why we fell into the category of being an agnostic rather than an atheistic. Nevertheless it was the darkness of our own mind. Yet we still may have been better off than those who professed they believed there is a God, but still refused to obey his words or counsel. However, being in the darkness is not a good place no matter what men may say about doing their own thing. Being in this rebellious state against God results in him subjecting people to bitter labor. This is not just labor, but bitter labor. This is not a happy life, living enjoying our jobs, our labor, and content with our position or possessions. This is a life of discontent, always wanting more, wanting better. This is being measured and weighed and found wanting. A life less then how God desires our life to be. But living, refusing God, results in stumbling around in the dark with no one to help. Yet whenever someone calls out to the Lord as we did, he brings them out of our darkness into his light. It is far better to be able live in the light then in the dark. The chains Satan kept us locked up with were broken by God, he freed us, and he cut away the bars of iron that kept us in the dark. It is all due to his unfailing love. There is nothing we warrant of his love, other than we are his creation, even as we lived in the darkness. His love reached into the darkness of our heart and broke the chains that bond us and lifted us up into his light, all because of his unfailing love.