The Revolving Door and the Way Out

The Revolving Door and the Way Out

— By M.T. Clark — P-2016, 07/15/2026 — Today’s Audio Podcast

Today’s Message on YouTube:

Today’s photo of a leafy tree standing against the brick wall of an apartment complex with its branches reaching up and hiding the very peak of the roof behind it comes to us from yours truly, as I captured this simple scene of contrasting beauty while on my lunchbreak walk up and down Wards Lane in Menands, NY, on June 26th, 2026.

Well, it’s Wednesday, and I share this “peak photo” to visually represent our arrival to another midweek summit, so happy hump day, and to encourage you to entertain going a different way every now and then.  My lunch break walk up and down Wards Lane was a set path, sticking to the sidewalks and the shoulder of the road day after day, but one day I got the idea to “go off road” and to climb the grassy hill near the apartment buildings on the way down, only to discover the comfort of shade and the beauty of a small clearing surrounded by trees. In a moment, I went from a city street to a peaceful wooded clearing, but I would have never experienced the peace of that place or captured today’s photo if I hadn’t answered the call to go another way. Considering the peace I found there, I believe it was the Holy Spirit guiding me to enjoy God’s creation, and because I went, I was rewarded.  God leads you to good places, so walk in them.

Our series, “Freedom Stories,” continues today with the revolving door of bondage and the way out that God provides.

The Revolving Door and the Way Out

The trap of any bondage is that it convinces you that the cycle is permanent, that you’ll always reach for the same thing, always fail in the same place, and always end up back where you began. Psalm 107 describes people caught in exactly that kind of darkness, and then it describes what breaks it.

Psalm 107:13-14 (NKJV) tells us: “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces.”

Notice the order, because it is the way out of every revolving door. They cried out, the Lord saved, He brought them out of the darkness, and He broke their chains in pieces.

The first thing worth seeing is that the cry to the Lord came from inside the trouble, not after they had cleaned themselves up. They didn’t escape the darkness and then call on God from a safe distance. They cried out from the middle of the distress, while they were still in darkness, but that cry was enough because God brought them out of it. This shows us that the power to get free was never in our own strength. Our freedom comes from crying out to God and receiving His help.  

This is the death of the white-knuckle approach to freedom. The revolving door doesn’t stop spinning because you finally grip the frame hard enough. It stops because God reaches into the cycle and breaks the chains in pieces, which is something only He can do.

For years, my own life ran in a vicious cycle that I couldn’t break. Every day I would reach for the same empty comforts, hating myself for it, swearing it off, and then walking right back through the same door again. It felt less like a road and more like a revolving door that kept putting me back where I started, no matter how hard I pushed.

I learned in my own recovery that there is a particular kind of lie wrapped around addiction and besetting sin.  The lie of addiction is that the thing we keep reaching for is actually giving us something, when in fact it only takes us away from what is simple, pure, and good.

Looking for comfort in anything apart from God is an empty pursuit, and the revolving door keeps spinning because we keep believing the empty thing will be full this time. Freedom began for me when I stopped trying to break the chains by myself and started asking God to set me free. 

He showed me that I didn’t have to be alone in my struggle and that I could walk out of the darkness by walking into His light. He led me to humble myself and to go to a community of other believers who were crying out to receive His help too. Together, by His grace, we found it.

So if you feel like you are living in a revolving door, hear the good news of Psalm 107. The chains that feel permanent are not permanent to God. He saves people from their distress. He brings them out of the darkness and the shadow of death, and He breaks chains in pieces that no amount of human effort could bend.

Your part is not to break the chain by force. Your part is to cry out, and to keep crying out, to the God who breaks chains and sets captives free. Your part is to step into the light where His people can walk into freedom and healing with you.

Keep on walking and talking with God.

— M.T.

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“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

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