Fettered In Misery

Scripture

“Sojourners in gloom and shadow dark as death, fettered in misery and chains.” 

~Psalms 107:10, NJB

Quote

Slavery is conditional: it all depends on the master.

~Ya’akov

The text today is in reference to the Israelites in bondage to Pharaoh. The Israelites were not being punished for national crimes; this would come later in their history. They were enslaved for their numerical growth and the threat that they posed to the Egyptians who they would soon out number. They were in Egypt for 400 years but not slaves for all that time: to my knowledge, we do not know exactly how long their were slaves. Slavery can be bad, so bad that death becomes attractive. The Pharaohs who enslaved the Israelites had forgotten all about Joseph and his God Yahweh. They were wicked men who had no fear of Yahweh. They were making the Israelites lives a living hell. The Israelites were reduced to a state of helplessness. They could do absolutely nothing about their plight.

This is an ugly picture of sin and the misery it deals to the sons of Adam. To be fettered or shackled is to be in chains. Joseph’s feet were fettered and his neck was put in an iron collar {Psalm 105:18}. Now tell me what you would do in that situation? I have the answer: YOU WOULD PRAY. It would probably be a child-like simple prayer…“LORD, get me out of these chains.” The neck collar ready upsets my phobias. It is a different type of slavery but in truth, we are all slaves. If you sin, you are a slave. Take a look at Romans 7:14 where Pauls gives this personal testimony… The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. The religious hate this verse and insist that Paul is referring to himself before he met Jesus. There is a Greek word for this kind of thinking, ‘bologna’! I don’t know about you, but I am still fettered and a part from Christ, I am hopeless and helpless. But my salvation does not depend on my sinlessness; it depends of Jesus sinlessness. Jesus is breaking the fetters but I will not be totally free until He calls me home and comes to get me. Think about what Jesus said in John 8, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. We also have the response of the religionist in that same chapter…We are descendants of Abraham,” they replied,“ and have never been anyone’s slavesYeah right, as Spencer Bell says, “They were as lost as a golf ball in high weeds.” What an arrogant statement from a group of self-righteous hypocrites who were trying to establish their own righteousness so they would not need the righteousness of Jesus. I still sin which means, I need Jesus.

I don’t want to give you the wrong impression: God is at work in saving us from our sin. Christ death on the cross paid the penalty for our sin {hell} and it broke Satan’s grasp. We are now free to serve Christ. The Holy Spirit is working the ground of the cross freeing us from the power of sin and ultimately, we will be saved from its presence of sin when Jesus returns or we go to Him. There is a misery that goes with sin and it takes awhile for this misery to settle in. I have known for years that I am a sinner but the longer I live, the more miserable sin becomes.

When we left 1120 for church last night, it was not raining here. When we got home it was not raining here but it rained on us from Ironman to Grace Point and all the way back to the same location. I had to run the windshield wipers on high some of the time. I don’t have one thing planted in the garden or the green house. I can’t work in mud and I lack motivation.

A lot of changes have taken place since January 20. The new administration is being very aggressive in many areas. You can not separate the house of abortion from the Democratic Party: they are basically one in the same. Democrats are not seeking to force tax payers to bankroll the abortion business at home and abroad. They are rolling back FDA safety precautions on dangerous abortions drugs. {Decision Magazine, April}

I hope you have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.

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