Trapped Like Mice.

2 Corinthians 4:8
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair.

Every time I read this passage of Scripture I think of the movie The Wizard of Oz. You know the scene; after rescuing Dorothy and trying to escape they go into a room of the castle only to have all the doors closed behind and in front of them. Then the witch is standing on the steps and the lion says, “Trapped, trapped like mice, uh, rats!” That is how I picture the mindset of the Apostle Paul when he wrote these words.

We sometimes say that we are between a rock and a hard place. There seems to be no way to escape being crushed. Things just seem to keep piling up on us at times. If it’s not one thing it’s another we say. I use the illustration of pulling a wagon through life to describe it. We have bricks put on it along the way and the farther down the road we go the more bricks are piled on. Eventually the last brick will be put on that breaks down our wagon. We struggle through the day pulling and tugging at the wagon making very little progress, if any. We become exhausted and depressed. We do not understand what is happening or how we got to this point and despair sets in and life becomes a drag for us. We have no joy, no happiness and some even have no hope. That is a grim picture but it is reality for many. In the movie the scarecrow figures out a way for them to escape though. It is so ironic that he wanted a brain and yet it is obvious he had one all along. That is what God is saying to us today in this passage; we do not have to be in despair even though our circumstances seem to have us trapped. Life is perplexing at times and we cannot understand why things happen the way they do but that does not mean we have to give up. Job said it best I think when he said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!” Paul would go on to say “Therefore we do not lose heart.” Our help is just a prayer away.

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15,16)