Rebekah's Cell - A Story of Forgotten Freedom

Not long ago, there was a girl named Rebekah, who lived in a cell - the kind of cell built to hold a prisoner for a lifetime of solitary confinement. No room to move. No sunshine.  Only the absence of any close relationships.  Unquestioningly, Rebekah lived in her cell by her own free choice, for the door remained unlocked. All it would take was a shove and the hinges would open to a bright world.  A free world.  But, she'd moved in so long ago, she didn't remember life outside of her cold, dark walls.  Why did she stay?  If all it took was a push on the door, what kept her from promptly kicking it open?  What paralyzed her from running out into a life of sunshine, relationships and freedom?  And how did she ever get here?

Someone had convinced her that this tiny little cell, this box, was in fact,  freedom. 

A Liar had faithfully droned each day, "This... is your life.  This... is freedom, Rebekah.  This... is as good as it gets."  He regularly visited her throughout the day in an attempt to keep her subdued and deceived.  Because she'd grown accustomed to his familiar voice, she trusted him and thought his words were true.  Why else would Liar repeat this day after day if it were not so?

In the dark, it's hard to discern.  In the loneliness, it's difficult to reason.  In whispered lies, it's impossible to hope.

Early one morning, as Rebekah strained to reposition herself against the walls of her cell, she heard a Man singing just outside the door.  He sang of an abundant life flowing with extravagant love and freedom.  Freedom? she scoffed as she listened.  "I'm free.  It's nothing to sing about," she thought.  Then, as if the Singer could hear her thoughts he spoke, "That isn't freedom, Rebekah.  You've been deceived.  It is for freedom that I came to set you free.  Remember?"  He drew nearer to her and whispered, "I am the Way.  Come to me."

"This is my life.  This is as good as it gets.  This is freedom," she recited.

Without hesitation, the Man sang back, "I came to set the captives free!  I am the Truth."  Rebekah felt her heart hope for an instant.  Could there be more than this?


As He kept on singing to Rebekah, He placed His hand on her cell.  "I am the Life.  This truth will set you free!  Please open this door."  She felt warmth and saw tiny rays of... what was it?  It'd been years since she'd seen it - since she was a very young girl.  It pierced through the walls of her cell and made her eyes squint.  Oh, her heart swelled with longing for more of it.  It was....Light!

Could it be, that after all this time, she'd believed the Lie?  Was there such a thing as genuine freedom?  True freedom.  If she could feel and see His light, His warmth from inside her frigid little cell, surely it could be true that there was more outside.  Rebekah longed for it.  Floods of memories came rushing in like a tidal wave... She'd danced to this tune before, years ago!  It was the King's Song and it was beautiful!  But then someone interrupted, chanting a different verse, telling her the way to freedom was in this room - this tiny cell.  And before she recognized the tune had changed, she willingly stepped into her own personal prison guarded by Liar himself.  Forgotten was the song of Love, for she believed another's song.  Until today!

Rebekah rocked forward, shoving against the hard cell door.  With her heart pounding like a drum, in sync with King's Song, she burst from her prison as she opened the door and stepped out into the sunlight and right into the arms of the King himself!  "Oh, how I've missed you!" she cried.  "I didn't know I'd followed a lie until I heard your singing."

He gently answered, "I've been singing this song to you everyday.  I knew one day you'd hear it and remember it."  He hugged her tight as she drank in the sweet affection she'd been longing for.  In these arms, she found His unconditional love and hope.  Here, was real freedom!  How could she of ever thought life was found within those dark, confined walls?  Like a bird who sits in a cage not realizing the door is open to fly free at anytime, she'd believed the lie that inside her walls resided all the King allowed.  But Hallelujah!  Like a bird who abandons the caged-existence, Rebekah found a King whose love was limitless as the sky, whose grace was beyond measure, and whose freedom was true! 

Now, her freedom has taken her to the places where others are hidden away, closed inside cells where the Liar has led them, to sing them the song of the King, and His freedom and his love.