The Soul's Escape and Freedom
*‘ Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.” PsaLm cxxiv. 7.
oe
re -Mr; Ficcis tells us of a man who is not a
Christian, but who regarded the whole meaning of religious experience as summed up in these words of the Psalmist. And most certainly these-words do suggest the
- g great redemptive facts of escape and freedom. The soul becomes enmeshed in the net of circumstances, the fettering tyranny of sin and guilt and worldliness, and it cannot get away. The more it struggles the more it is entangled, like a bird which is caught in the net. The only hope of deliverance is by some strong and gentle interposition which will lift us out of the net and give to us the joy of winged freedom. It is this entanglement which constitutes life’s servile bondage. Our souls are so often caught in the net. It may be the strong net of the passions. It may be the finely woven net of small worries, which can imprison us as perfectly as a net which is made of the cables of imperious vice. Or it may be that our business interests become our snare, and we get into toils from which we cannot escape. Our feet are fast, and we cannot use our wings. We~ — arepedestrians, — and — we — intended — -to...be.the ‘-birds’6f God:’ We are in worldly bondage, though God purposed that we should “‘ mount up with wings as eagles.” And the trouble is, we think that by struggling with our bondage we Shall gain our freedom. Yes, we say, “‘I really won’t let things get such a hold on me.” Or we say, ‘‘I am going to hold things more at arm’s length.” Or-we-say-to.ourselves,.‘‘.L.must.deal. strongly. with..thathand,..L.must-show*that’I-amthemaster” But we just go stumbling on, and the net is winding itself ever more desperately about our souls.
Let us listen to one who escaped, ‘‘ Mine eyes are unto the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.” That is how we find our deliverance. It is not ours to do the plucking up, it is ours to do the looking up. God will look after our feet if we look after our eyes. The soul that turns to the Lord finds a sure escape. This looking unto the Lord may be the dumb gaze of imperious need. Or it may be just the exclamatory cry, ‘“‘ Lord, help me!” But whether dumb or speaking the look means appeal, and confidence, and surrender. And as soon as such eyes are turned toward the Lord the spiritual deliverance begins. When God has our wills He can release our souls. The net is broken and we escape. y
I can imagine nothing better for us to do than to read all that is said in the word of God about the glorious freedom which God purposes for His children. Let us read about the vast inheritance of the saints in light. Let us read about the height and length and breadth of the love of God in which we are to live and move and have our being. What a heaven of a home for the soul to soar in! And then let us read about the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. And then let our eyes begin to wander over the unsearchable riches of Christ. And when we are getting some expanded sense of the freedom which is ours in Christ, let us look at the miserable nets in which we are entangled. Aye, let us look at them until we are ashamed of our shame. And then surely our eyes will be unto the Lord, and we shall cry for our salvation. And the Lord will lift our feet out of the nets, whether they be dirty nets of passion, or the seductive nets of vanity, or the small wiry nets of petty cares — He will lift us out of the nets. And when our feet are free we shall find we are provided with wings.