He was a foreigner and was ignorant in the laws and customs of the country. One day he broke one of those laws and was promptly seized and taken to prison until he should be able to pay an exorbitant fine. After several months had gone by, he was allowed to leave his cell, though still loaded with heavy iron chains on his ankles to prevent his escape.
A fellow-countryman learned of his arrest and tried to help toward his release but could do nothing. He was permitted to give him nothing but a book. The prisoner was disappointed. He cared little for books; a little extra food would have pleased him much more. He threw the book aside and forgot all about it.
Three long years passed, and he came across the book once more. As he picked it up, he felt a small bulge under the cover. Ripping it open, what should he find but a file—the file he had wished for so long.
After that he spent every minute when he could be unobserved in filing away at those hated chains. At last, to his great joy, they fell off, and he succeeded in making his escape. His only regret was that he had despised the gift and neglected the means of his deliverance for those interminable years.
Is there anything we have neglected? Have we neglected the Bible? Has the Old Book been unopened? Has it lain covered with dust and neglected while we were serving sin?
Perhaps one day we come to our senses and discover that sin has bonds and heavy chains. We remember the Bible and open it to see what help it can give us. We read: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me [Jesus Christ], because He hath . . . sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:1818The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18)).
“Thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered.” Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work for us will deliver us from our bonds. Our chains may be very strong and heavy and we may be hardly able to move under them, yet the file of faith in Christ is stronger still and more powerful than any sin which binds us. We shall see all our chains lie at our feet and gladly leave them behind us. Then we may go on our way rejoicing in Christ’s salvation and the glorious liberty of the children of God.