Psalm 142:7

New International Version (NIV)

Set me free from my prison,
that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
because of your goodness to me.

For mediation

The Prophet Jeremiah, Peter, Paul, John the Baptist, the apostle John and many faithful s have had their taste of prison life. Some were taken from those dungeons and slaughtered for their faith. Many however survived to tell their stories.

Today, there is still countless number of Christians in prisons all over the world, especially, in countries that are closed to the Gospel.  They need our daily prayers.

There is another kind of prison. It is the prison of economic, social, and political conditions of our nations. The world system and its demands are suffocating millions in virtual prisons.  Millions are shackled and thrown into forced labor, slave trade and as teen soldiers. Others are locked up in refugee camps under extremely harsh conditions. Misery is multiplied around the world as poverty shuts million in cells, yet; the exploitation shamelessly continues. The conditions of people in these categories could be worse than inmates in our modern prisons, especially, those in the western nations. But there is yet another form of prison that is worse than all. It is the prison of the soul, heart and mind.

David was thrown into this kind of prison when King Saul went after his life for a long time. He wandered in dry and thirsty lands and caves. He took refuge in enemy territory, and later feigned insanity when his cover was blown (1 Sam. 21:10-15). He hungered and thirsted. He yearned for support, but only Jonathan stood with him in the king’s court. Ahimelek, the priest, lost his life with all the other priests of Nob for his hospitality (22:18-19). David’s soul was distressed, his heart depressed, his mind tired, and his body wearied. So, in the cave of Adullam, he expressed his pain and anguish in Psalm 142.

1. Is that your experience? What kind of prison are you in?
2. Is there anything that has you locked up in its bind that you’re struggling with?
3. Yours may not be an enemy attack like that of David; but how about that area of your life that is holding you captive in sin?
4. Is it unforgiveness, pride, selfishness, greed, lack of contentment or any other sin?
5. How about the love of money, power, fame and recognition? Have you considered the stranglehold of these as prison? Have you noticed the effect of any of these on your spiritual life?

I pray you’ll cry out to the Lord, like David did, and ask Him to free you from your prison, that you may praise Him (7) with your life’s testimony!

So: May you “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles,” that you may “run with perseverance the race marked before [you];” and may you follow the example of Jesus, so that you may “run and not grow weary” or “walk and not be faint” (Heb. 12: 1-2; Is. 40:31).

Shalom