The Box: A perspective on life and prayer

If you were in a cell—a box—whether it was for cause or no cause….because we all know you didn’t do it, and jails and prisons are full of innocent people—there would be nothing for you to do. Literally. There’s nothing to do. You can pee in the toilet since it’s right next to you. You could lay on the bunk that’s right next to the toilet. If you’re in general detention, there would be a lot of people you could talk to. It would help pass the time. It just might be a small cell with a door instead of the bars seen in movies. The bars are usually in a federal prison setting, not city or county jail—and the rooms are smaller than the standard 10×10 that people imagine. A 10×10 would be a mansion. This would be a forced rehab for claustrophobia. Not to mention, it would also be a forced rehab for your cigarette and alcohol addiction. Jails have doors. Imagine a solid door with a slot in the middle for food and a small little square window placed just above eye-level—at least the box that you’re in. Maybe you’re in solitary confinement for now, who knows—but no worries, you’ve got nothing but time to make friends.

Prayer is powerful

There is really nothing to do. But why not kneel and pray? It’s something you might do in your own home outside of jail. There, you pray for others and thank God for the things he’s blessed you with. Pray for God’s will to be done. Thank God that he is in control. That’s when you are outside. But now, what do you do if you’re in a box? Nothing you do can get you out of this box. It is out of your hands to do anything. Your life is in the hands of another. Your jailer might start to think it’s him that controls your freedom. No. You know it’s can’t be him—not some random person who happens to have the keys to your cell. Who genuinely controls your freedom? If you answered, “God controls my freedom,” do you truly believe it? Are you now going to pray like you really mean it? How did you pray before—like it didn’t really matter? What is it about praying in a box that makes it different than praying at home? You realize this isn’t a game anymore. You feel trapped because you are. This is real.

When you pray at home you pray for the people in your life that you want God to bless or cure or make happy or give peace to. You thank God for the blessings he’s given you. You ask that he let your mind never forget that he is with you. You ask that his laws that are written on your heart (Deuteronomy 6:4-6) translate into your actions through your hands and feet. You ask that the words you use exit your mouth with a salted tongue (Colossians 4:6). You don’t ask that God be with you because he already is. But you do ask that God help you to remember that he is always with you so that you don’t treat him like he’s never around. He’s not the absent father. He’s the invisible father (1 Timothy 6:16).

“He’s not the absent father. He’s the invisible father.”

Back to your jail cell prayer. Whether you have a cell buddy or if you are in solitary confinement shouldn’t matter. Use 2 Chronicles 7:3 as a guide for how to pray. You should be able to get on your knees, kneel forward with your hands clasped, bow your head between your arms that are outstretched on the concrete floor before you, and say,

“Dear Jesus….help me to do your will. Your will be done. Nothing I do can get me out of this confinement I am in….”

….and that’s when you realize that this prayer is very similar to the many prayers you’ve made outside of this cell, in the comfort of your own home. You may have more comforts outside of the cell, you may have more room to move around, you may have more people to talk to, but even on “the outside” you’re still confined to a box you can’t get out of until the sentence has been served or satisfied in some other way. The sentence for you being a sinner is death (Romans 6:23). You’re hoping your lawyer is good enough to appeal your sentence for you so you can get out and truly live a life with peace.

Nothing is done apart from God

You were fooling yourself that you could ever do anything from this box you’re sitting in. Everything is in God’s hands (Acts 21:14, Matthew 6:10, 1 Peter 4:19). You might be asking, “What about that lawyer?” Well, this lawyer is not the court appointed lawyer from the public defender’s office. This lawyer is Jesus, mankind’s arbiter to God (Job 9:32-33)—the one we cry out to represent us in all fairness to truly represent humanity’s case to an all-powerful God. The middleman. The go-between. Your contact on the inside. The one that speaks on behalf of you to God because your sinfulness has landed you in a jail cell and God doesn’t visit jail cells or take calls except through Jesus. He’s your heavenly court-appointed lawyer—from the heavenly court. God runs the court.

“God doesn’t visit jail cells or take calls except through Jesus. He’s your heavenly court-appointed lawyer—from the heavenly court. God runs the court.”

Anyone who has ever broken a law knows it is the dumbest thing in the world to try to defend yourself. “I’ll defend myself,” are famous last words. You don’t know the law. You don’t know the judge. You don’t know how the court works. You truly don’t grasp what is on the line. The consequences for your actions are dire. We’re talking life in prison or the death penalty. But if you get a lawyer—someone who knows you and knows how the system works as well (there is only one and his name is Jesus) then you can get off scot-free. It would be like your crimes have been erased from memory—like they never happened. Even if you brought it up again, the court would look at you quizzically like you were teasing them or you were mad. The court genuinely forgot. This is a real-life Groundhog’s Day where you remember the sins from the day before, but God forgot (Isaiah 43:25). You have the option to do the same day over again the same way, or you have the option to change your behavior and set your heart on the straight path—to do what is right because it is the right thing to do and it will please God.

Only God forgot. Not your victims. Not you. Just the court. But that’s okay. Someone needs to remember your crimes—including yourself—to keep you on the straight and narrow and to remember how much you really owe your amazing arbiter named Jesus. You getting to remember how close you were to eternal damnation is what should fuel your thankfulness for the rest of your life. You don’t need to ask your victims for forgiveness. I mean, you can try, but many times they might not want to see you. Their forgiveness is not the forgiveness that matters. You have asked the court to forgive you with sincerity in your heart and you have accepted the terms they set before you to secure your release from a box.

“Christians, especially in front of other people, are trying to look good to one another. And there lies the problem.”

There’s that box again. Asking a room full of Christians if they’ve ever been incarcerated is like asking the same people if they ever looked at porn. They would rather not answer. No answer is not lying. But getting someone to speak up and share intimate details in a men’s group setting, although it does happen sometimes, is hard to come by. No one wants to air their dirty laundry with a bunch of people they don’t really know that well. I understand we’re all Christians, we’re all brothers, we all belong to the same church maybe, but more importantly we’re supposed to all be on the same team. We want to show everyone our strengths so we can get more play time on the field. Christians, especially in front of other people, are trying to look good to one another. And there lies the problem.

Can we really hide shame?

We’re always trying to present ourselves as being something that we’re not. We’re always trying to hide the things that we’re ashamed of with a fig leaf (Genesis 3:7). How did that work out for Adam and Eve? Did they think fig leaves would hide their nakedness? It was futile and infantile. We’re not hiding our deeds. We’re hiding our shame. It just so happens that we’re ashamed of our deeds. Trust me when I say this, everyone else can still see what’s behind that leaf.

We need to build relationships that are stronger with our fellow Christians so we can be more open about where we’ve been and where we need to go (Hebrew 3:12-14). That can’t happen at the men’s group that meets every Wednesday night for an hour and a half. The friendships that are open and honest need to happen outside of that Wednesday night meeting. On Thursday you need to call someone that was around that table you were at last night and ask if they want to do lunch or go to the shooting range. On Friday you need to ask that same person if they want to swing by your house for dinner or catch a movie. On Saturday you need to ask that person if they’d like to join you to watch your kids soccer game. On Sunday you need to go to church together. And then suddenly, by design, you are friends. You have done life together. You are ready to share what a round table at a Wednesday night men’s group never allowed you to share before.

“Nothing you do and nothing done by those around you is going to change the fact that we are all sitting in a box.”

We are all in a box. We have cell mates. Some of them can help us make it through to the other side more smoothly. Just don’t convince yourself that it’s because of them that you have found peace. Don’t give undeserving credit to the wrong party. Nothing you do and nothing done by those around you is going to change the fact that we are all sitting in a box. We should kneel and we should pray in our boxes for God’s will to be done. Ask how we can serve him. Make yourself available and listen to his reply. There is nothing we can do except serve the one who can do everything. His will be done. We need to stop fooling ourselves by running around and acting like we’re in control when we are not. Nothing we do can get us out of this confinement we are in. Praying like you are in a box will make you free.