The Lord can "break bars"

Sunday September 5, 2021

The Lord can "break bars"

Your thoughts are not my thoughts, and my ways are not your ways, declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:8

A father was reading to his child the story of John the Baptist, called the greatest of the prophets, whom King Herod had put in prison because he told him the truth (Mark 6:17-29). The child, very moved when he thought of this prophet locked up in his cell, had this word : "God should have sent an angel to break the bars of the prison". Certainly, God could have “broken the bars” through his angel (as in Acts 12:10 and 16. 26), but he did not. On the contrary, John was beheaded in appalling circumstances.

We are here before a mysterious subject. It is not always the will of God that we be delivered from the difficulties of life and the wickedness of men. We are also sometimes trapped in situations from which we cannot escape, over which we have no control. How many times would we like God to “break the bars” and deliver us! Sure, we can ask God for deliverance, but still be subject to whatever He wants. We must always remember that his will is good, pleasing, and perfect (Romans 12:2).

In the case of John the Baptist, he had completed his great mission (Acts 13:25) : to prepare, in the hearts of the Jews, for the coming of their Messiah. Now Jesus was coming and John was going.

Paul, the great apostle, sent by the Lord himself to preach the gospel to the world, was also imprisoned. Once he was released, but then he was locked up several times and spent his last years in prison. The Lord Jesus had his reasons, wise and perfect. We will understand them when we get up there in heaven with the Lord.

If for us also "prisons" do not open, we need to bow to the ways of God, being convinced that God is wise. We come to him then, asking every day for strength, patience, submission, to glorify him with our faith and love in adverse circumstances.

If we think about it, the child was right : one day God will "break the bars" of our humanity and we will leave to be with the Lord forever. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)

Source (Pleasing the Lord)