OUT OF EXILE by Raphael ben Levi
Passover 5783 is drawing close and I am reminded how only a short while ago we were forced to celebrate it in our homes separated from others yet bound closely in unity and purpose. It proved to be a unique occasion as we expressed our freedom in confinement reminding us how many others remain outside the boundaries set before them yet enslaved in chains of exile.
Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach recalled with sorrow a time when someone told him that she preferred to remain a prisoner in exile than ever consider returning to the freedom of her Homeland, the land of Israel:
“Do you know what the saddest thing in the world is? Only one-fifth left Egypt, one-fifth of the Jews left Egypt, they liked it there. I don’t have to tell you. In America, after the black man became free, how many people really wanted to be free? They wanted to go back right away to being a slave, do you know why? Basically, it’s the strangest thing in the world. Everybody talks about freedom, but you know something? It’s a very heavy thing to be free.”
God is calling back the spiritual captives through Yeshua who proclaimed that, “Whosoever the Son sets free shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36) You too can be free, released from your spiritual confinement when you surrender your life to the Master! I dare you to allow God to transform the deepest depths of your existence! Martin Buber explained it this way: “Every lock has its key which fits into and opens it. But there are strong thieves who know how to open locks without keys. They break the lock… God loves the thief who breaks the lock open: I mean, the man who breaks his heart for God.”
Today although you may not be living in physical confinement you may still be confined in spiritual lock-down. If so, why not release the invisible chains holding you enslaved to the world’s protocols, and break out into the fullness and freedom of our precious Messiah? In Him, there are no geographical boundaries that can ever separate us from His love! Surrendering your life at the foot of the Cross lies the greatest secret in the world; the place where God’s heart was broken for us. Would you today become a ‘thief’ who ‘breaks their heart’ for God?
