In the kingdom of God, I am realising that I am set free to be abandoned to God. Here is a poem from one who sat in prison because of her religious views.
A little bird I am,
Shut from the fields of air;
And in my cage I sit and sing
To Him who place me there;
Well pleased a prisoner to be,
Because, my God, it pleases Thee.
My cage confines me round;
Abroad I cannot fly;
But though my wing is closely bound,
My heart’s at liberty.
My prison walls can not control
The flight, the freedom of my soul.
Oh, it is good to soar
These bolts and bars above,
To Him whose purpose I adore,
Whose providence I love:
And in thy mighty will to find
The joy, the freedom of the mind.– Freedom in Prison by Madame Guyon
It would appear that she found contentment with the idea that God had placed her there. It would also appear that she retained her dignity there because she kept her connection to God.
Our will and the powers that are associated around it and yield to it, are exercised differently according to the different natures found in us. Our will governs what the outside world sees. It governs our senses and how we do our tasks and keep doing our tasks. It knows that it can disobey and others around it can disobey too. There is the governing of sensual appetite. All, in all, under the will’s control, there is no moral guilt as long as the will refuses to consent to or adopt wrong desires.
These affections or tendencies of the will have four classes in respect to the dignity of their objects. There is an understanding of the natural affections – the first and spontaneous affections. These include our affections for health, food, friends etc. Then there are reasonable affections. These come out of the spiritual part of reason and are expressed as the affections for moral virtues. Christian affections bear truth to revelations such as the affections for poverty, chastity, and even heaven glory. Then there are the divine or supernatural affections which God effects in us. There are three – love for the mysteries of faith, love for the promises of hope and love for the sovereign good which is God.
With that understanding, why do I attack or receive attack at the hands of others? I am evaluated and continue to be evaluated ceaselessly. Is it not a relief to be able to meet people without evaluating them, without sizing them up in some way? I think I can do that in the kingdom of God.
Disciple 