Bound In Chains

Have you looked at a grown elephant chained to a stake and asked yourself why does he not just pull the stake out of the ground? I mean, come on, a big huge 15, 000 pound animal and a tent stake is all that is holding him at bay. Really??

But in order to understand the answer to the question we must venture back to shortly after the elephant was born. You see all elephants raised in captivity are bound to a stake by rope. Does the baby elephant like the rope around his leg and not having the freedom to walk around like he is supposed to. Heck no!! So he tries to pull away. And he keeps trying to pull away until there are rope burns on his leg. Some are a little more stubborn and end up with not just rope burn but bleeding sores and worse. But, unfortunately, over time they realize that no matter how hard they try they can not escape. As they mature, the rope is replaced with a chain. And despite the fact that they could break free they do not even try, for their will was broken a long time ago. The only way to be free of the rope or chain is for their trainer or master to release them.

 

Do you see a resemblence here? Does this kind of remind you a lot of the human race?

The sad thing is I do. And we don’t even need a rope or a chain per se. We have other people that can do that for us with just a few short words repeated over time. Did you know that you can literally kill a person with your words?

Have you ever heard a parent speak these choice words before​? “You will never amount to anything.” or “Why do I bother, you will never have good grades.” Repeatedly spoken over time, these words become truth to the child, despite the fact that they are not true. Eventually, that child will stop trying to amount to anything and stop trying to get the good grade because of the words spoken over them. Words that in the end crush their will and diminish their desire. There really are a lot of examples to this one.

Has there been a time in your life where someone has spoken ill words over you? How did it affect you? I know for me it has happened..but I’ll save that for another story of sorts.

But all this carries over to the spiritual side of things as well. Sins that have us bound in spiritual chains because though WE have tried to overcome the struggle we allowed the enemy to whisper in our ears that God will not forgive you. Or the worse lie…God does not love you . How about this one? “See you fell again, you can’t stop.” The enemy got me a lot with those simple words.

But unlike the trainer or master for the elephant our Master is more than willing to remove the chains from us. He does not want us in chains but rather He wants us walking in freedom. And the cool thing is that all we have to do is ask Him. Are you struggling in sin and bound in chains today? Give God control over that area of your life. I am living proof that there is freedom and that chains can be loosened. And that the scars of old can be healed along the way.

Originally posted on February 11th, 2014