Ps. Craig Mobey
Some of us are in jail. Not physically in jail as in Correctional Services, but in jail as a prisoner of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, exhaustion, burnout, compassion fatigue, physical abuse and so on.
For some of you, it may feel as if you are serving this sentence in solitary confinement where you are alone with your fears and imagination.
Scripture: Psalm 28:6-8 (NIV)
6 Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy.
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.
8 The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
Introduction
- If you have been injured, harmed, or felt emotional pain, then you have been hurt.
- If you have been crushed, shattered, bruised, violated, mistreated, overwhelmed with sorrow, or treated violently, then you have been broken.
- If your good taste or morals have been violated, then you have been disgusted.
- If you have ever felt that things may not turn out alright, if you have lost a sense of expectation or desire, if you have lost confidence, then you have lost hope.
It is sad that some believe that hurt, brokenness, disgust and hopelessness are all there is or something they deserve or even hold on to it for fear of the unknown.
Body
The solitary confinement I am referring to is the lonely place of hurt, brokenness, disgust, and hopelessness. Solitary confinement is that place of imprisonment when you feel that you are of no earthly good; your life feels like a vessel dropped onto a concrete floor and you wonder how to pick up the pieces and be whole; be of value once again.
It is that place where you feel unloved, unwanted, undeserving, rejected and broken.
A friend tells the story of another friend who mailed her some homemade pottery. Upon opening the box, she discovered the precious items had been damaged during their journey. One of the cups had shattered into a few large pieces, a jumble of shards, and clumps of clay dust.
The vessel didn’t build itself. It is the product of careful design and for a specific purpose. It can’t pick up its own pieces and even if it could, it can’t repair itself. No matter how long these pieces will lay there, the pieces cannot reassemble themselves into what was. You and I may have chosen to throw away these broken pieces or use them as a decoration of some sort. My friend did a remarkable thing with these broken pieces. She asked her husband to glue the pieces back together again.
By the cracks the evidence of damage shows. So, she places the repaired vessel up on a shelf. In the most prominent place for all to see. And not because she is sentimental about the gift.
She proudly displayed them on her mantelpiece; these beautifully blemished to remind all who see it of the following truth: All of us have scars that prove we can still stand strong after the difficult times God’s brought us through.
A repaired cup becomes a cup of comfort, each break lovingly repaired reminds you that the Lord has worked in and through your life and that He is with you and will help you in your time of suffering.
The scars of life are going to define you. There is no way you can forget it, there is no way that you can pretend it did not happen. There is no “undo” button to life. What you have gone through is going to define you. You are not going to be the same person you once were.
You can either be defined by the damage, or by the repair.
You can highlight the cracks and repairs as an event of life, and proudly display them as part of your history; a history that points toward the reality of God and that He cares about you and anyone else whose life lay in a thousand pieces. God loves, God cares, and God will hear your call for help, and He will respond.
Break the shackles of solitary confinement by opening your mouth and calling on the Name of the Lord. Solitary confinement lasts for as long as you stay silent. Call out to God. He will:
- Dispel your darkness with His light.
- Defeat the lies you have come to believe about yourself with His truth.
- Cover your shame and give you a testimony that will glorify Him.
- Heal you from your hurt and pain.
- Exceed your weakness with His strength.
- Understands the rejection you feel and reminds you that He chose you
- Pick up your brokenness and assembles a masterpiece that is pleasing to Him.
- Replace your disgust with His acceptance through Christ Jesus.
- Sees your exposure and gives you shelter.
- Take your loss of hope and gives you a certain future.
- Speak to your exhaustion, burnout, and compassion fatigue and gives you rest.
- Give you peace despite the hardship you experience.
- Remove from you, your sin as far as the east is from the west.
As far as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for you.
Call out of your solitary confinement to God. He does remarkable things. He takes the broken pieces of your life, takes what you have come to believe about yourself, takes the shameful deep and dark secrets, takes your pain, takes your worthlessness and everything else that is wrong and gives you wholeness.
Wholeness – the pieces back together again – is not because God is really good with glue. It’s because God is really good at loving you.
Conclusion
It is sad that some people believe that solitary confinement is a life sentence.
It is sad that some use the strong steel bars and sturdy walls that imprison them to keep the outside on the outside.
It is sad that some will eventually know how many bricks are in the wall and how long each crack in the plaster is and choose that painful familiarity over Godly hope, faith, and trust.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Break the silence. Call out to God.
“Lord I am presenting myself to you that you may be able to use me I don’t know what you can do with me because I’m broken, I’m a shattered mess, pieces are missing, but here I am Lord. I am breaking the silence. Help me.”
Amen.