Beautiful Cage | Christian Poem

This was written on my second blog: UnAshamed Christian Housewife. Published: June 28th, 2021. Inspired by Pilgrim’s Progress.

_________

My world was beautiful.
It was all I wanted.
My ways. My thoughts. My things.
A safe place never to be departed.

But then, my life was shattered.
Broken pieces of everything.
What I thought held me up, gave life.
Were now tattered wings.

How I longed for my desires.
Oh, the hope I found in them.
They made me feel like I mattered.
Until they were taken, making reality grim.

No hope.

NO hope.

NO HOPE!

I find myself in a cage.
Beautifully laced metal.
There are weapons on the floor,
If I want to end life, in this cell.

I contemplate.
I desire my pain to end.
But there’s a Book among the weapons.
I scoff, “What is this, a Godsend?”

How could such a thing help me?
What could the words possibly say?
“Yes,” a dark voice hisses.
”Stay away from that Book, and you’ll be okay.”

Fear strikes me.
More than before.
I’m not alone, I realize.
And I’m in a cage, with a locked door.

Why does the darkness want me to avoid the Book?
Yet, it seems excited about the weapons?
Anxiously, I walk toward the Book.
”NO!” Echoes rattle the cage. Light darkens.

I am terrified.
I cannot see.
Afraid and curious, I fumble for the Book.
How can I read, if I can’t see?

“Kill yourself!”
”You’re worthless!”
”You can’t handle this!”
Screams echo and claws grip the cage.

The darkness feels so heavy.
Emotions flood my soul.
I feel I might drown in them.
I desire… to drown… to end.

And yet…

There is a spark…
a tiny, but steady, spark.
I can’t see it,
But I know it’s in the dark.

The Book is connected to this spark.
This is all I know.
My body trembles even more as I reach
to open the Book.

~
Upon opening the first page.
The dark begins to cease.

The spark IS the Book.
His Truth drips like blood into the cage.
He tells me He did this for me.
Jesus broke the grave.

Looking at the weapons, “Those aren’t for you,”
the scripture says.
The sword of the Spirit is the word of God.
He is the Living Bread.

I looked above and saw.
The beautiful metal, I once admired.
Scratched throughout the bars.
Spelled out all my idols and desires.

No hope is found in them.
The word of God tells me.
“A beautiful cage, the liar descends.
And you walk in willfully.”

Claws touch the caged walls.
I see the hordes of demonic presence.
“How can I leave this cage,” I ask.
Scripture says faith in Christ and repentance.

I saw the wretchedness of myself.
Etched throughout the cage.
I saw the blood of Christ covering the idols and desires.
Paying the cost of my sin’s wage.

The cage was death.
I was spiritually dead and I couldn’t see.
But the Light of Christ shined through.
The Author of faith was able to reach me.

Innocent was my Savior.
Yet, guilty He was pronounced.
Blameless He became a curse on the tree.
So that he who the Son sets free is free.

Oh, the anguish of these desires.
The selfishness, my idol.
I served to please only myself.
Thought I was wise, but a fool.

The burden of sin is too much.
Too much pain. Too much wrong.
I can’t do this by myself.
Scripture says, “That’s why Jesus came along.”

~
”To atone for what no man can.
To break the hold of sin.
Christ resurrected and broke the grave
so that life can begin.

Before you were spiritually dead.
But now your eyes are opened.
Put your faith in Christ alone
and believe the words that are spoken.

I cried out to Jesus.
Asking for forgiveness, I knew my pain was His.
What He took on the cross for me.
What He paid so I could live life in eternity.

The burden was gone.
All my sins were smeared with His blood.
I am His, the scripture says.
Assurance washed over me like a flood.

The metal cage began to melt,
as the demons screamed.
The Savior, my Shepherd, had me.
I had been redeemed.

My world became beautiful.
Brighter than I ever had.
His ways. His path. His truth.
I didn’t know my darkness was so bad.

~
In the beginning, sin feels so nice.
But my safe place was never really safe.
When hardship comes my safe place crumbles.
And Death invites itself to finish the job.

I can’t find my hope in things or people.
They can’t save me from the pain.
But within the cage and among the sorrow, hurt, and weapons
was the Book of Truth bearing His name.

~
Being alive but spiritually dead,
the enemy wants me to die.
But Christ makes me spiritually alive,
while I die to my sins and live through Him.

I do not have my desires like before.
My false comforts are gone.
But so is my death cage. Christ the door.
…in the end, I have more.

Scripture To Memorize/Meditate On – (ESV) Acts 3:15, “and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.”

*To learn more about what Jesus did on the cross and why His atonement sacrifice is so needed please see: Why Did A Loving God Kill His Son? (Does God Hate?)
*If you do not know the Gospel, do not turn away. If you think you know the Gospel, check out these questions and see how prepared you are for the day someone might ask you why you believe: The Gospel Challenge (30 Question Quiz) – Are You Ready To Defend Your Faith?

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