When?

Psalms 146:7 (KJV) Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoner:

(Proverbs 23 also read)

I find myself echoing the words of David in other places, “How long, O Lord?”  I’ve read statements like this many times, and just accept them as statements of truth.  I still accept them as statements of truth because they’re in the word.  At this point though I’m not sure how to understand them or to interpret them.

When has the Lord loosened prisoners?  I can think of Paul, being in jail, and having all the chains fall off, but no one escaped.  I can think of the saints resurrected on the day of the crucifixion.  I can come up with all kinds of possible explanations, but nothing comes to mind that is a literal fulfillment of the statement.

In that case I need to, shall we say, spiritualize a little bit.  We have countless testimonies of believers who have been locked up in jail, or confined for speaking about the freedom that they feel in Christ.  I accept that.  I think that is an application, but it does not fulfill the literal statement.

Then I did something I rarely do.  I looked through the commentary sources on my software.  I found several solid examples starting with Israel being set free from Egypt.  I guess it helps to look a little deeper sometimes.

So?  One of the great joys of reading and studying the word is it gives us many things to meditate on, and many answers to find.  Some of them we will find in this life.  So we will not know until we reach eternity.  I remain convinced that the answers will come.