No Longer Slaves

Good Morning, World!

Today I am going to take what I cooked in the slow-cooker over to some friends of mine, who are not able to buy groceries right now, to share. It turned out REALLY good. But, I can't eat much of it. My gallbladder told me it didn't like it last night.

It's a shame, too. I liked it. I wanted more...

Maybe this is God's way of keeping my weight down.

Speaking of...

John 8:36
“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”

Elisabeth Fritzl was locked up for 24 years. She was raped and tortured by her father. She bore him 7 children. Her mother and sister had no idea she was still there...in the basement.

Why didn't God intervene on her behalf?

This is a hard question. One that deserves an answer.

1 Corinthians Chapter 13 verse 12 speaks of us "looking through a glass darkly" in this life. Paul goes on to explain that we don't understand the ways of God right now, or why He allows the things that he allows or does the things He does or doesn't do. But, we have to hold on to our faith. We have to KNOW that when we finally meet God face to face, we will understand everything.

2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us to walk by faith, not by site. The here and now is not what is important. It's where we have faith that we will end up that is important. This earth is not our home. It is temporary.

In Luke Chapter 7 verses 40-43, Jesus illustrates to Simon how one who has the most to be forgiven for is the one who loves the most.

Perhaps God also uses this to illustrate other things. Elisabeth spent 24 years without freedom. She was tortured. She had her babies taken from her. She had to watch them tortured. They had to watch their mother tortured.

When she was freed, how do you think she felt?

Grateful. Relieved. Joyous.

Let's go a step further:

VICTORIOUS.

Yes, she has a lot of healing to go through. I'm sure she also feels:

Angry. Betrayed. Hurt. Vengeful.

And, those of us who lived our lives every day not knowing what was going on half a world away down in a basement now sympathize with her plight and:

We ask "Why?". We are angry for her. We want justice.

Some of us blame God.

There were slaves in Egypt before Moses came along and, with God's help, freed them. They were slaves, not for 24 years, but for 400 years. Don't you think that some of them were murdered? Beaten? Raped? Starved? Had their children taken from them? Had to watch their children suffer?

Moses, himself, was a product of that time. The Pharoah had said that all male children were to be killed to cut down on the Israilite population. He was only saved because his sister placed him in a basket and sent him down the river, only to have GOD intervene and be found by the daughter of the Pharoah who raised him as his own.

Here in the United States of America, slavery also existed. Same scenario. When the U.S. slaves were freed after the Civil War, they sung hymns of Praise to God. Who do you think sung greater hymns of Praise that day? The former slave-owner who came to Christ? Or, the former slave?

Steal Away
Roll Jordan Roll
Wade in the Water

And one of my favorites:

Swing Low Sweet Chariot

The slaves, even while they were slaves wrote and sang many famous spirituals that are alive and well today, sung among those of us who know what it is like to be a slave to sin, finding ourselves redeemed and freed. As a true child of God, slavery is not the physical chains that bind us, or the oppression that we have to endure from other men. Slavery is the chains we endure in our minds and hearts as we live in sin, knowing that our doom is eminent. Jesus loosens those chains, unbinds the ties that bind us, and frees us from the eternal consequences of sin.

So why does God allow these things to happen?

Why did God allow me to live five years in an abusive relationship?

In order for us to understand forgiveness, we must have to be forgiven. In order for us to understand sympathy, we must understand loneliness and pain. In order for us to understand how to be grateful, we must understand deprivation. In order for us to understand loyalty, we must know what it means to be betrayed.

We can't know those things without suffering.

Then, when we learn them, God rewards us with the blessings that cause us to praise Him.

Sure, God could make our lives perfect if He wanted to. But, we would not understand or appreciate our freedom to worship Him. He doesn't want robots to praise Him. That would make Him as bad as the father of Elisabeth Fritzl, who forced her to obey -- whose children knew nothing else, and will forever fight the demons he taught them was "normal".

Why didn't God intervene on Elisabeth Fritzl's behalf?

He did. Today she is FREE.

Further Bible Reading:

Galatians 3:28
Romans 6:20
Ephesians 6:5
Colossians 3:22
1 Timothy 6:1
1 Peter 2:18