Aug 24, 2024
The 2024 edition of Our Best Thought is inspired by our 2024 Bible Reading Plan and features writings thoughtfully crafted by contributors reflecting on their daily devotions. “Our Best Thought“ is taken from the hymn, “Be Thou My Vision” as a reference to God: “Thou my best thought, by day or by night.”
Reading: Psalm 118
Scripture:
Psalm 118:5-9
When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;
he brought me into a spacious place.
The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
The Lord is with me; he is my helper.
I look in triumph on my enemies.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in humans.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
Observation:
It is interesting to note that God answered the psalmist’s cry of distress by setting him ‘in a spacious place’. That same phrase can also be found in Job 36:16, which connotes deliverance from danger, want, anxiety or distress when Job lost all of his property, his children, and suffered great physical agony. It is also remarkable that many years before the book of Romans was written, the psalmist understood the principle of Romans 8:31: if God is for us, who can be against us? God’s assuring omnipresence was the reason why the psalmist was able to stand in confidence in the presence of deep distress and warfare.
Application:
Sometimes when we go through a difficult time, we may experience tightness in our chest or the feeling of suffocation. At times, we may also feel unstable. The imagery of standing in a “spacious place” contrasts with something like a narrow beam or a tightrope. Balancing on a thin edge is difficult, but it’s easy to feel stable when there’s plenty of room to take a wider, firmer stance.
Prayer:
Dear faithful God, whenever I am hard-pressed, help me to cry out to You first and foremost. Set me in a ‘spacious place’, and breathe Your life into me again. God, You are the only stability in my life. Would You remind me of Your omnipresence, that I may be confident in the truth that You always are with, and for me. I confess that it is truly better to take refuge in You than to trust in to trust in men’s ability to deliver me. Amen.