"SELF IMPRISONED"

We live in a great country and are blessed by a lot of freedom, as citizens here or citizens of Heaven. But sometimes we can and do imprison ourselves. We can build prisons of bitterness, of worry, of perceptions about circumstances, of addiction, of jealousy or other sins. God can free us from our self-made prisons, and this is HIS desire. And these prisons in our own minds, which we inflict on ourselves, can be the most restricting of all. Let's look at some today.


First, is Bitterness: When we refuse to forgive someone, who is the one that is hurt the most? Who is the one most likely to lose sleep? Whose stomach churns furiously when that person is in sight? Who thinks of possibilities and ways of revenge? Who stews about it? It's the one who won't let it go. Bitterness is a poison a person drinks in order to hurt the other person.

Second, is worry: We can lose hours of sleep, elevate our blood pressure and distract ourselves from the good things for God we could be doing - all in worry about something we probably can't change anyway! Maybe you've seen the statistic that 90% of what we worry about never even takes place!

Then there is jealousy which can be a cruel prison as well. King Saul is a good example of that.
From 1 Samuel 18:7-12 we read,
"As they danced, they sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands."
8 Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. "They have credited David with tens of thousands," he thought, "but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?" 9 And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. 10 The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand 11 and he hurled it, saying to himself, "I'll pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice. 12 Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had left Saul." (NIV)



Saul became obsessed with getting rid of David, whom he "eyed" as an enemy. It imprisoned his mind, took over his life, consumed him. Worst of all, it removed him from God. The word "eyed" is key here. We often "eye" or perceive circumstances or events as unbearable, unchangeable. The answer to all these areas in life is to put your trust in, lean on and grow in The Lord. From Proverbs 3:5 we read, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight" (RSV) May God bless