So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free. John 8:36
The Lizard on the Patio
Recently, I watched a small lizard pace back and forth next to the screen on our patio. It was looking for a path of escape, to be free from the confines of the cage. But perspective is everything. From where I was sitting, there was a large patch of shade just a few inches away and a space under the door if he just went a few steps further. In the frenzy of the moment, neither was visible, and so he continued to wear the paint off the metal frame and was no closer to the freedom he desired.
Sadly, the next morning, as I stepped out onto the patio, I saw a dried-up lizard in the same place he had been the day before. No freedom. No escape. No change. Sadly, there was no way to communicate that he had options. Without stopping long enough to make a different assessment of the situation, he ran himself to death when he was just inches away from life.
Slaves to the Familiar
The children of Israel struggled to let go of old mindsets and hold on to the freedom God was offering. They had learned to live within the confines of slavery. Every day the same path, the same expectations, the same results. There was a safety in the certainty; no worry about a place to sleep or the next meal. Freedom was a distant dream; a hope that lacked a real framework and a people who couldn’t see past the confines of their current life.
Slaves do not enjoy the extension of genuine care and concern. There is no morning conversation about life. This is not a deep relationship with intimate moments of connection — it was purely a business arrangement where only one party benefits. The children of Israel had learned how to follow the rules and produce what was expected. Outcomes and performance became their measure of success, and relationship became just a vehicle for instruction and correction, not connection.
God’s desire was not to inherit a group of slaves who lacked the ability to relate and receive and found the rigidity of the law more desirable than His presence. He was looking for a family who would eventually have the privilege of bringing Jesus into the world. His dramatic rescue was intended to be the first day of a new beginning. The first steps of freedom that would lead to a nation and a legacy.
A Dream in Pieces
It didn’t take long for His whole dream to fall to pieces. Moses was meeting Him on the mountain, and the people were building a golden calf to worship. The miracles had not changed their minds. The pillaging of their captors had not influenced their perception of themselves. The divine protection and destruction of their enemies was not enough to convince them that they were no longer slaves. The mindset was much harder to dislodge than one million people from the land of Egypt.
Like my lizard friend, they couldn’t see that freedom was real and that a few steps in another direction would change everything. They were so set on continuing to rehearse the same thoughts, romanticize their past, and believe that old paths would eventually lead to another destination that they died in the wilderness.
The lizard literally shriveled up in the heat. What was left was a mere skeleton, a shell of his former self, lying in what had become a familiar spot. Anytime we refuse, or are unable, to shed old mindsets, we face the same fate.
What If He Had…
I keep thinking about what if he had… What if, in the middle of his frenzy, the lizard had paused just long enough to recognize that there was a whole patio around him and that there was shade a few inches away? What if he’d stopped looking at the same spot in the screen and simply turned his head toward the gap under the door? At that point, it really wasn’t about how he ended up there or why he was stuck — it was about thinking a new thought, looking in a different direction. He would have only needed to stop running the same path long enough to notice there was another path.
Just Turn Your Head
I think that is the invitation. It isn’t a giant leap into the unknown. It is a step toward transformation but not one we have to accomplish by ourselves. It is an appeal to just pause. The choice to change requires perseverance, humility, and intentionality, but it starts small. Sometimes we just need to take a few steps and find a shady spot to reassess life. Time is our friend. Better to take a few minutes to pray, sit, and listen than to mistake busyness for progress.
If you find yourself out of breath and your strength waning, it’s probably a good time to stop pacing. Ask God for perspective. He’s not timing how long it takes you to notice the door. He’s just waiting for you to turn your head.