“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” - John 8:36 (NIV).
Once two little children were out at play and found the rope they needed for a tug game had a knot. Much as they tried they just couldn’t figure out how to unloosen this knot. It was one huge puzzle that had them desperately sweating.
Eventually one decided to drop the rope with its knot and look for another game. But just then an idea brightened up with another. He picked up the rope with its knot, and looked for grandpa. See, it did not take seconds for grandpa to unloosen the knot once it was placed in his hands! The children, quite amazed; happily rushed back to play. Grandpa had all along been watching, standing in the shadow, and eager to help out.
Now, it is common to find knots in life. There can be knots found in one’s work or business, hindering any movement ahead. Much as one can try on one own the knot remains firm in place.
Knots can also bind life. Certain people have their lives tied up with knots that hinder them make progress. These could be knots of anger which has locked one down into a fuselage, quick to blow up at the slightest provocation. There can be knots of addiction that have made one’s life hopelessly enslaved. Some people are tied down with knots of jealousy which has blinded them to fail appreciate all the blessings in their lives.
Jesus often came across people whose life had been shriveled by knots. Once, while going about his work, there came a woman who “had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped” (Luke 8: 43-44). This woman pushed herself against a crowd and touched the cloak of Jesus. He stopped and turned to the woman who came down at his feet, “Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace” (vv 48).
Should you have noticed that you are dealing with a knot that seems against all effort not to go away, before you drop the rope, why not take it to Jesus. It can be amazing what seems impossible and has taken years troubling you, how the Lord can unlock it in a moment. All you need like the bleeding woman is have faith.
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I bring to you the knots in my life, that you unloosen and free me, to walk in your full blessings, this I pray in Jesus’s name.
Related upcoming events
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
