Last night I made a regular visit to a state prison about a half an hour from our house. It is quite a large facility with thousands of inmates incarcerated for crimes mostly related to drugs and alcohol. At this prison a group of seventh day Sabbath keepers is meeting every Friday night for worship, prayer, Bible study, singing, and fellowship. As an outsider it is deeply moving to listen to the testimonies of the prisoners, many of whom are “lifers”.
Two of the men who spoke last night shared some interesting perpectives that they had gathered from reading the Bible.
One, quoted Proverbs 28:1 which says that the wicked flee from no one and shared how when he was on heroin, he and his friend had done this very thing, running through the forest trying to escape an imagined pursuer. He continued that he had read in the Bible that when God created the world, He gave man dominion over everything, but now “the plants are laughing at us”. The role has reversed and drugs and alcohol have given plants dominion over man. "We worship plants"!
Another prisoner who always seems to have a bright and positive disposition, said that he praises the Lord in all things, not that he likes prison, because “prison is hell”, but because God has given him a wonderful work of saving souls. When reaching out to other prisoners he loves to tell them that he has two life sentences. One is a life sentence in prison, the other is an eternal life sentence in Heaven.
When I see these guys praising God in such difficult and stressful circumstances any complaints I may have evaporate.
