When Your Life Feels Like Prison
Last week, I wrote about finding joy when the future is uncertain. This week, I want to talk about something that might be harder.
It's one thing when you don't know what's coming. It's another thing entirely when you know exactly where you are, and it feels like prison.
Maybe it’s the job that drains you but you can't leave because you need the income. The financial mess that has you completely boxed in. The relationship that feels suffocating but is complicated to change. Or maybe it's those responsibilities that feel like chains… caring for aging parents, managing chronic illness, stuck in a season you never asked for.
You're not wondering what's next. You know what today is. And today feels like prison.
So the question changes from "How do I trust God when I don't know what's next?" to "How do I trust God when I'm stuck in the present, and it's terrible?"
Rome's Biggest Mistake
Continuing through Philippians, I keep coming back to how Paul is navigating all of this. He's literally in prison as he writes, chained to a Roman guard, ministry seemingly over, freedom gone.
But here's what he says… "I want you to know... that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News."
Wait, what?
His imprisonment. His chains. His suffering. All these painful things have actually advanced the gospel.
Then he drops this detail that would have blown his original readers' minds… "For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ."
The palace guard. He's talking about the Praetorian Guard, the Emperor's personal bodyguards. These were the most elite, most influential, most politically connected soldiers in the Roman Empire.
And here's what was happening… Roman law required high-profile prisoners to be chained to these guards in 6 hour shifts. Paul's wrist locked to their wrist. For 6 hours straight, that guard couldn't leave. He was literally a captive audience.
Here's the irony... Rome arrested Paul to silence him. To stop this Jesus movement from spreading. They figured prison and chains would contain him.
Instead? Paul got rotating access to the most influential military force in the Roman Empire. Every 6 hours, a new elite soldier, someone with serious connections and authority, was chained to this guy who couldn't stop talking about Jesus.
They heard his story. They watched his joy despite his chains. Their shift ended, and they went back to their circles of influence and talked about this man named Jesus.
Rome thought they were containing Paul. But Paul was discipling the very people meant to silence him.
God specializes in turning prisons into platforms.
The Shift That Changes Everything
When we're stuck in hard circumstances, most of us pray, "God, please change this. Get me out."
Paul's response is different, "God, use this."
It's not passive resignation. It's active. It's saying, "Okay, I'm here. You're here. So what do we do with this?"
So let me ask you… What if the circumstances we're desperate to escape are exactly where God wants to use us?
The job you feel stuck in? Maybe there are people there who need to see what faith looks like under pressure. That season of limitation? Maybe it's giving you depth and wisdom someone else will desperately need down the road.
Paul didn't need his circumstances to change to live with purpose.
What if the life you're waiting for isn't on the other side of better circumstances? What if it's on the other side of a better perspective?
When Someone Else Gets Your Platform
Now check this out…
While Paul's locked up, other preachers are taking full advantage. They're building platforms, undermining him, preaching with selfish ambition specifically to make his chains hurt more.
And Paul's response? "But that doesn't matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice."
He rejoices. Why? Because Jesus is being preached. The mission is advancing. Paul cares more about the mission than his position in it.
Most of us? We do the exact opposite when we're sidelined. Scroll social media, feel envious. Resent whoever got the promotion. Can't celebrate anyone else's wins because we're drowning in our own losses.
Getting trapped makes us territorial, not generous.
Paul goes the other direction. Being confined makes him more generous, not less. He's so secure in God's purpose that he can celebrate gospel impact even when he's not making it. Even when someone else gets the credit. Even when his rivals benefit.
He stopped needing personal recognition to find joy in what God is doing.
Can you celebrate what God's doing even when you're not the one doing it? Even when you're in chains and someone else is on the platform?
Sometimes our prisons teach us what we should have known all along… It was never about us in the first place.
The Freedom of Holding Loosely
Now look what Paul writes, "For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better."
What Paul really wants is to die. Not in despair, but because being with Jesus would be "far better." But he says, "For your sakes, it is better that I continue to live."
Paul is so free that he can hold his deepest desire loosely enough to stay in prison for the sake of others.
Most of us are imprisoned by our own preferences. "I can't be happy unless..." "My life won't really start until..." "I'll serve God after..."
Paul shows us something different… True freedom isn't getting what you want, it's being okay with not getting what you want and trusting that God has other purposes.
He's content to live. He's content to die. He's free either way. Why? Because "to live is Christ." Not "to be comfortable is Christ." Not "to be successful is Christ." Just Christ. In chains or not. In prison or on the platform.
This is the same prayer Jesus prayed in Gethsemane: "Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine."
Jesus held His own desires loosely enough to embrace the Father's purpose for Him.
What I'm Learning
Paul found purpose in his prison. Joy despite rivals succeeding. Freedom in surrender.
And somehow, the gospel spread farther than it would have if he'd stayed comfortable.
So here's where I keep landing… Our limitations don't limit God's ability to work through us.
If life feels like prison right now, maybe you've been praying, "God, change this. Get me out." And maybe that's exactly what He'll do.
But what if, while you're waiting, you asked a different question… "God, what do You want to do through this that couldn't happen any other way?"
What if your confinement is actually your calling for this season? What if the walls that feel like they're trapping you are actually positioning you exactly where God needs you?
Paul didn't waste his prison time complaining about the chains. He leveraged it. He turned limitation into opportunity. He found freedom in the one place he couldn't escape.
And in doing so, he shows us that joy isn't dependent on our circumstances being ideal. Joy is found in knowing that God can use us regardless of our circumstances.
Even if life feels like a prison. Even if you're stuck. Even if you can't see a way out.
God specializes in turning prisons into platforms. Maybe yours is next.
Keep looking up,
Pastor Alan is the lead pastor of Allegheny Center Alliance Church. To find out more about ACAC, go here.
