“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever…I called on the LORD in distress; The LORD answered me and set me in a BROAD PLACE.” (Psa. 118:1, 5) In this Psalm David reported sending out an SOS call to God AMY. He said: “I cried out to God in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a broad place.” Now the words “in distress” imply that David was pushed to the limit. He was backed up to the wall. He had no room to turn. He couldn’t see a way out. Some translations say that David was in a “narrow gorge,” trapped and cornered. It’s true – David spent many a night huddled in a dark, damp, cold cave, listening to Saul’s soldiers as they tramped by looking for him.
“The LORD is on my side; I WILL NOT FEAR. What can man do to me?” (Psa. 118:6) How did the Lord help David out of this situation filled with fear, anxiety and agitation AMY? David says the Lord set him in a BROAD PLACE. The Hebrew word for broad place is merchav, a pasture or large field. The Lord answered David’s plea for help. He brought David out of his narrow and confined position of running from Saul and his soldiers, hiding in caves, into a place of liberty where he could walk at large, free from threats of danger and oppression. Eventually, David became the king of Israel, and the ENTIRE COUNTRY BECAME HIS “BROAD PLACE.“ “All nations surrounded me, But in the name of the LORD I will destroy them…They surrounded me like bees; They were quenched like a fire of thorns; For IN THE NAME OF THE LORD I WILL DESTROY THEM.” (Psalms 118:10, 12)
David was hemmed in by his adversaries, and could not find a loophole of escape from the enemy which made a circle around him. As if by common consent all sorts of people set themselves against him, and yet David was MORE THAN A MATCH for them all, BECAUSE HE WAS TRUSTING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. Therefore he joyfully accepts the battle, and grasps the victory, crying, but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them, or “cut them in pieces.” David was told this by his men when he had a chance to kill Saul, “This is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’ ” And David arose and SECRETLY CUT OFF A CORNER OF SAUL’S ROBE.” (1 Sam. 24:4) David would not kill Saul as long as he was king because he did not want to offend the Lord… We need to have the highest respect and honor toward the Lord. “…do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; Therefore HONOR GOD WITH YOUR BODY AND IN YOUR SPIRIT, which are God’s.” (1 Corin. 6:19-20)
-Bill Stockham