Trapped

I went to pull down the bird netting this morning, and there was a bird trapped inside the netting. Frantic at my presence, she flew to the netting to try to get out.

Since I was taking down the netting anyway, I just went about my business getting it down. Surely she would notice the open sides as the netting was pulled away.

But she didn’t. As I opened up foot after foot of freedom, she flew a few feet in front of me, madly beating at the netting. As I rounded the garden space, she clung to the netting until she was at the end, trapped in the mesh. The entire garden was open. If she had not clung to the netting, she could have been free much earlier.

The bird netting is collected and balled together at the ends. When she reached the end, she became trapped, entangled, unable to free herself. Calmly and softly, and against her loud protests, I cut the mesh away from her. Finally the netting was away from her wings, and she flew free.

Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1.

Do we do the same? Trapped inside a net of bad behaviors, do we cling to what we know, frantic to escape, but unable to see the freedom available to us? Do we seek to escape through the very means by which we were trapped? How many windows must God open for us before we stop banging on the closed door?

I remember a Ziggy cartoon that read: Every time I get depressed about being overweight, I drown my sorrows in a cup of hot chocolate and a box of chocolate chip cookies.

What entanglements am I clinging to instead of trusting in Jesus? Am I looking to Him or trying to save myself? Do I, like the bird, miss the available path to freedom?

The entire garden was open, but this poor bird was trapped in the netting bunched in one spot. My presence with the scissors drew vehement protests, but eventually I cut away the entanglements and set her free.

Has not God done the same for me? Such a life of freedom and joy await, if I can just look away from netting and fly free. When sin has ensnared me, have I complained as God cut away the trap? What great lengths God has gone to in order to free me!

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. John 3:16.

What joy I felt when the bird finally flew away. The netting was there to protect the tomatoes; I didn’t want a bird entangled and injured by it. My heart was moved as she struggled in vain to free herself. I gave her more and more opportunities to escape, but she wouldn’t take them.  If my selfish heart can care so much for this bird’s plight, how much more must God’s heart ache for us? How He must rejoice when we finally let Him save us!

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:7.

Once the bird flew free, she had her friends and the entire neighborhood at her disposal. Unencumbered by the netting, her options seemed limitless. I would like to think that she would tell her friends that I was a loving human, but I am content that she is free.

What is trapping you today? What is trapping me? God wants to set us free. He does not want to see us die in our sins. He has created a beautiful world for us with seemingly limitless options. Will you let Him set you free?

So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36.

Betsy