The Secret of Confinement

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ike John on the isle of Patmos, some saints are finding themselves in places of restriction in this hour, and are struggling with all the emotional trappings that attend imprisonment and confinement. Feelings such as hopelessness, uselessness, despair, abandonment, rejection, reproach, lack of understanding, loneliness, vulnerability, etc. With such a host of emotions assaulting the prisoner’s equilibrium, it’s difficult to maintain an unswerving confidence in the simple secret of this chapter: When you’re in confinement, God is closer to you than

you realize.

The Lord assures the afflicted soul, “‘I will be with him in trouble’” (Psalm 91:15). When you’ve been troubled by circum- stances that twist and press your soul, be assured that your Lord is closer to you than ever!

David said of the Lord, “He made darkness His secret place” (Psalm 18:11). When the lights of understanding go out and you’re plunged into emotional darkness, you are actually being issued an invitation into God’s secret place. It’s in the darkness where God meets in secret with His chosen ones.

The Lord’s prison is generally characterized by social isola- tion and loneliness. Friends drift away, and relationships that

Secrets of the Secret Place

once ministered life and grace to you are distant or estranged. Your ability to function is greatly curtailed, and you find no joy in the small amount of movement that your chains grant you. This confinement, however, has been orchestrated by your Lover. Your heavenly Husband will allure you into the wilderness (as per Hosea 2), He will comfort you with His presence, and He will renew your affections for His goodness and glory. It is here, in the pain of loneliness and aimlessness, that the Lord designs to ignite a depth of love relationship like you’ve never known. Be- fore, you were too busy to find it or care about it. Now, you’re so determined to understand the nature of His hand in your life that you’re pressing into Him with abandonment and desperation.

In His kindness, He dries up every other fountain that has nurtured your soul, that He might become your only fountain in the quietness of this cell. It’s here you will learn to own the reality of Psalm 87:7, “All my springs are in You.” Instead of be- ing energized by projects, you will now become energized by a Person. Being with Him and in Him will become your criteria for success.

David spoke of the intimacy of the prison: “You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowl- edge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (Psalm 139:5-6). Being hedged behind, David cannot stop or quit because he is being herded forward. Being hedged before, he cannot ac- celerate or push ahead, he can only move forward at the pace the Lord sovereignly sets for him. He can’t work up momentum, and he can’t quit. Then, he’s under the mighty hand of God, which means he can’t move to the left or right either. He is a man without options. And his evaluation of this place of constraint, restraint, and harnessed direction? David could have been tempted to view this as highly constrictive and controlling, but instead he called it such high knowledge that he cannot attain it! The Shulamite described it in this way, “His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me” (Song of Solomon 8:3). She viewed the restrictions as the loving embrace of His arms. Instead of focus- ing on the immobility, the prisoner is focusing on the glorious

The Secret of Confinement

intimacy of being held so firmly in the Lord’s hands. The confine- ment is actually a gift!

Not only is this prison a place of intense intimacy, but it is also a place of revelational impartation. Jesus said, “‘Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light’” (Matthew 10:27). In the place of darkness, God is saying more to you than you real- ize! While He might not be talking about what you want Him to talk about, He is desiring to download to you the thoughts and intents of His heart. If you listen and hear in the darkness, one day you will speak in the light what He whispered to your heart in the dark.

Are you in a prison of sorts? Just give Him your love! The Scripture says, “A friend loves at all times” (Proverbs 17:17). Even when the Lord is mysterious in His ways, His friends still love Him. And in the quietness of that love, a new depth of intimacy is cultivated and established in the heart that will carry you for life. You will learn that “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6), for He loved you enough to wound you, that He might woo you into a greater connection with Him.

Here’s one of the secrets of darkness: He imprisons those He loves in order to awaken them in the secret place to mature bridal affections. Don’t despise your chains, for they bind you to the heart of the One you long for. You are the prisoner of the Lord.

Secrets of the Secret Place

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