Psalm 118:5

Yesterday, I awoke with this on my mind:  "PSALM 118:5."

When I say, "on my mind," I mean that right before I opened my eyes, I "heard" mentally, as if someone spoke to my mind, "Psalm 118:5."

God has spoken to me many times like this.  I knew it was Him.

It was Sunday morning, and I often speak at my church, assisting my Senior Pastor with either The Call to Worship or The Call to Prayer.  Both of these tasks require a reading of a Bible passage.  I usually spend all morning in prayer, asking God to lead me to the right Biblical passage so that I say what He wants and needs me to say to His people.

Though I never got a text from my pastor telling me that I had a role in the morning's service, I looked up the verse and, when I finally got to church, I kept my Bible opened to it, just in case.

It has been my experience that when I "hear" something like that, I need to pay attention.  It's for a reason.

But now, after I've just written an entire post (See, "So...what about Missions," posted right before this one), I realize that the verse may be FOR ME.

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Consider:

"When hard pressed, I called to the Lord; He brought me into a spacious place."

The King James Version says, essentially, "When I was in distress..."

Strong's Concordance also suggests that "spacious place" can include the concept of "freedom," and/or "enlarged territory," as well.  

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So, as I see it with fresh eyes this morning:

When I am backed into a corner, pressured by some force, feeling cornered with no seeming means of escape, I need to CALL TO THE LORD and ask for help!  He alone can rescue me and place me in larger territory with newfound (and appreciated!) freedom!

Interestingly, we are not told what the Psalmist did, if anything, to get backed into a corner.  Maybe he was chased into it, maybe poor decisions and foresight got him there, maybe he wasn't looking ahead--for whatever reason--maybe he never saw his enemy behind him, sneaking up.  Or maybe it's not his enemy but his mind, his burdens, his concerns.  Maybe it's a situation, that seems utterly helpless.  Maybe it's his finances.

Whatever it is that got him there, he's in a corner and he cannot do anything about it.  He knows his only way out is the Lord.  Whether this man contributed to the problem or not, it doesn't say.  What it DOES say is that he cried out to the only One who could help him, and THE LORD gave him freedom, setting him down in an enlarged territory.  

This morning, I take this to mean that, as I continue to cry out to the Lord about my circumstances--for me, my finances--He WILL deliver me.  He will give me financial freedom and enlarge my territory so I can properly serve Him and work for Him, as I have been called to do.

Let it be to me, according to Your Word, Lord.  Amen.