Boundless GratitudeSample

Reason #3: He Shatters Barriers I've Created

Every family has one. You know who it is. The rebellious relative who chooses their own way. The one pushing the envelope, setting the cat on fire, seeking out trouble, breaking Mama’s heart for sundry injuries. The Psalmist is familiar. He writes of those who knew better, yet they turned their backs on God, pursuing rebellious trappings anyway. And they got caught. Maybe these landed in prison, or perhaps he is figuratively speaking. For whatever reason, the rebels are not reveling in their defiance. The text illuminates the horrors: iron bars, enveloping darkness, hard labor, with only death to look toward in life.

Many of these people our Psalmist is addressing were returning captives from Babylon. But this text speaks to a much broader audience. Is there someone you know chained in a proverbial dungeon of their own making? Could this be happening to you? Maybe you know all too well the inner struggles from turning away from God to pursue your own desires. I’ve heard all sorts of agonizing stories from women who have recalled, in tears, a history resembling these verses.

Sometimes finding ourselves in a place where no one else can help, thoroughly spent, in utter darkness is the perfect environment for God to break through.

Like the Psalmist records, my friends have called out to God for deliverance from this loathsome place, and He rescued. It’s a beautiful reality. It matters not how strong the barrier or how much you’ve made Mama cry. It doesn’t even matter how ugly you have been to Jesus, Himself, Your God rescues. He brought these out of the darkness. Whatever was binding them was shattered, and He set them free. The same God delivers rebellious trouble seekers today.

He alone shatters every barrier, including those you and I create and force on ourselves. Thanks to God, our hopeless realities are not our final destiny. God shatters barriers you create and otherwise, bring you into a place of abundance.

What barriers have God shattered in your life that makes you thankful?

Through what has He brought you to experience His abundance?