The Psalm writer felt that no one cared about his life. Probably everyone has felt that way. We question whether what we are doing has any real value. He felt that his life was a prison of his own making:
"Set me free from my prison, that I may praise Your name" (v.7a).
Perhaps we feel trapped by:
- The prison of bad decisions
- The prison of limited vision
- The prison of bitterness
- The prison of unforgiveness
- The prison of mistrustfulness
- The prison of compulsiveness
- The prison of regrets
- The prison of mistakes
- The prison of a poor attitude
Did God put me in that prison? No, I put myself in there. Troubles, real or imagined, do not have to be allowed to rent out all the space in our heads.
What the Psalmist describes as a result of being let out of prison might also be viewed as the key to getting out:
"That I may praise Your name" (v.7b).
Praise lets us out of prison because:
- Praise is exuberant thankfulness.
- Praise is looking outside ourselves.
- Praise is recognizing the litany of blessings rather than only seeing my problems.
- Praise is a projection of hope rather than despair.
- Praise is doing what's right--what our Creator requires.
- Praise is a good example (v.7c): "Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me."
Praise is attractive. This is not to say that there is no place for melancholy in the life of a follower of Christ. God gave me the ability to feel sad, too. I feel sad about the brokenness in the world and the brokenness still under repair in me. But I don't want it to be a prison. I don't want to be locked into my own hopelessness. That is sub-Christian.
Instead, I am free to take the key of praise, reach through the bars, open the lock and see myself out into the free, fresh air of God's love for me in Christ.
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