In an episode of The Office, Dwight reveals his plan to capture Osama bin Laden; he would mail Osama bin Laden one piece of a cage at a time. Presumably, Osama bin Laden would then fashion all the pieces together with himself inside, imprisoning himself. It’s ridiculous and all of us in the audience laugh, knowing that we would never be so stupid to do something like that. But, in fact, we are expert prison builders.
The Prisons We Build
These prisons we build are not brick and mortar institutions, but they have the same effect: you are imprisoned. One of the biggest prisons today is pornography; a young man (or increasingly, a young woman) is exposed to pornography through a friend or through social media, and prison construction begins in earnest.
The exposure to sex and nudity desensitizes the young person and warps their understanding of sexuality into something resembling Igor from Frankenstein; young men, in order to be stimulated, have to venture further and further afield from normal sexuality (including losing interest in actual sexual relationships), and young women internalize the messages that warped sexuality is normative sexuality. Young men and young women become imprisoned to their own lust and depravity, and they are trapped within its walls. (For those imprisoned by pornography, listen to this podcast and the resources recommended there.)
But we could think of numerous other prisons that men and women build: the never ceasing rat-race for more money; the weekend-after-weekend binge drinking; serial monogamy (“surely, he will be the perfect one this time”); the continual groveling for others’ approval. We are expert prison builders, and the variety of our prisons testifies to the ingenuity and innovation of our sinful natures (Rom. 1:28-32).
It’s Your Fault
Psalm 107:10-16 paints a bleak picture of the state of the some of the redeemed: “Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most Hight” (Ps. 107:10-11). They are in a prison; it is dark and dank with the stench of death on the air; the shackles chafe their wrists, the guards mock them, and the dark oppresses them. And who’s fault is it that they are imprisoned? Their own. They rebelled against God and His Word, and spurned God’s calls to come back.
Our prisons are our own fault. This is not something that is popular to say today; instead, we like to blame addiction on genetics, or systemic factors, or hardships. But the reason our prisons are our own fault is that someone else might have laid the foundation, but we began building the walls. The kid in seventh grade showed you some porn on his computer, but then you spent the next ten years finding more. Your mother might have been a helicopter parent, but you spent the next twenty years trying (and failing) to make everyone like you. But let’s say that only 10% of your prison is your fault, and the other 90% is your parents’ fault, or your buddy’s fault, or the system’s fault; it is still partly your fault. Pastor Michael Foster and Bnonn Tennant state in their book It’s Good to Be a Man: it may not be your fault, but it is your responsibility.
What’s a Prisoner to Do?
Own up to what you have done; take responsibility for tearing down the prison, even if you only laid 10% of the bricks. It is your prison after all. And how do you begin owning up to what you have done?
You confess. “Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.” They did not cry out, “Lord, you are incredibly unfair that I am in this prison; I only laid 10% of the bricks after all!” No, it is a cry of confession; they confess their sin to God. They confess their rebellion and spurning of His Word.
They confess in the same vein as David, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment” (Ps. 51:3-4). This is what you must do; you must confess your prison to God. Then what?
God responds. “He [God] brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart….For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.” (Ps. 107:14) When we trust God enough to throw ourselves upon Him and His mercy, he responds with liberation.
He shatters the door of our prison and frees us; he cuts through the bars of our cells and ushers us out into the light. Christ said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn. 8:34-36). Christ seals and guarantees our freedom; we must love and obey him, and not wander back into our prison.
Conclusion
As great as we are at building prisons, God is great at busting us out of them and tearing them down. But we must take responsibility and confess our sins, and we will see God respond gloriously.
Ancient Words 