Worship Brings Freedom

Have you ever been desperate and without hope?

Have you ever been in a place where it seemed like nothing good could ever happen to you or for you?

Have you ever been in a place where time after time after time

your hopes for better things were dashed? Have you ever felt like a prisoner?

If you are not much different from everyone else then the answer to all of those questions would probably be yes. We all face times of desperation in our lives or setbacks when what we have dreamed for and believed to be our future in God seems unreachable. We seem locked up and locked away from the freedom to do and be what God has for us.

Josephs’ dream could have been lost in the pit.

Peter’s dream could have been lost in the prison.

Our own dreams can be lost in pity for ourselves.

So where does today find you?

Are you in the pit? Are you in a prison? Are you wallowing in self-pity?

There is a way out.

Worship the LORD.

Worship is the way out of the pit:

“LORD my God, I called to you for help,
   and you healed me.
You, LORD, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
   you spared me from going down to the pit.”

Psalm 30:2-3

Worship is the way out of the prison:

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.”

Acts 16:25-26

Worship is the way out of self-pity:

“but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

Genesis 4:5-7

In each case a choice to worship in God’s prescribed way was the way out of the pit, the prison and the self-pity. If you find yourself in the pit(s), the prison or as a prisoner of self-pity then hope is available to you if you choose the way out through worship! Cain, Paul and Silas and the Psalmist all had a choice to make. Two out of three chose worship. How about you?