Prayer in Distress
Psalm 118:1-7,
This Psalm begins with a call to God's people, a call for us to give thanks, to give thanks to the Lord, to give thanks to the Lord for He is good. As one man wrote,
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. For His steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is on my side as my helper; I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
This Psalm begins with a call to God's people, a call for us to give thanks, to give thanks to the Lord, to give thanks to the Lord for He is good. As one man wrote,
"He is the essence of goodness."
This is our God, this is who we are to give thanks to. And one of the aspects that we specifically see focused on here in the Psalm is God's goodness that is displayed by His steadfast love; or in some translations, His mercy. His mercy to us, His people. His mercy to us who do not deserve it. His mercy that overflows to us each and every day. And we're told here it is a mercy that endures forever. It is not but for a moment, it endures forever. It is forever, from everlasting to everlasting. There is no end to God's mercy. There's no exhaustion. We cannot exhaust it. We cannot use up His mercy. We can have confidence that the Lord's mercy for us is a mercy that will continue both now and into the future.
As we read this psalm, we see as the psalmist reflects upon this glorious truth of the mercy of God, he is reminded of God's mercy, His past mercy to him. The past mercy that the Lord showed to him when he was in the midst of his distress. In verse 5, he says, “Out of my distress, I called on the Lord.” His distress, which seems to be related to, as we read later in the Psalm in verses 10 and 11, seems to be related to him being surrounded by nations, not friendly nations, we can imagine, but enemies, those who sought to do him harm. He was surrounded by them, by adversaries, by enemies. This distress, it gives the sense of him being boxed in a straight or narrow place. Perhaps if you've ever been in a deep valley with rock walls on either side, you can at times feel trapped or restricted or confined.
And I found it interesting that the picture that he is portraying of his being surrounded, he says in verse 12, “They surrounded me like bees.” And I have had the experience of being near a beehive. I've had the experience of seeing bees dumped into a hive. And as those bees are being dumped into a new hive, these bees just fly up and they begin to surround you like a cloud around you in every place. There's nowhere you can turn, there are bees everywhere. And even though I was wearing protective equipment and a beekeeping suit, yet I have to admit it was unsettling because being surrounded by those bees, you can feel as though you're being engulfed, a feeling that would create distress and alarm and perhaps for many people cause fear.
The sense of being surrounded is also then likened in verse 12 to as though they went out like a fire among thorns. And it gives this picture of a fire that is overrunning a field of dry thorns, moving rapidly through the field, quickly setting ablaze all that is in front of it, consuming everything in its path. This is what the psalmist is experiencing. This is a sense of the distress that he is feeling of being surrounded by things such as nations that hated him, his enemies, of being surrounded by bees and experiencing a fire that is raging toward him. And all of these give a picture of distress, distress that would produce in most people fear.
So in the midst of his distress, where does the psalmist go for help? Returning back to verse 5, we read that ‘out of my distress,’ what did he do? He called on the Lord. He didn't look to himself for help, he didn't look to others for help, he looked to the Lord. He cries out to the Lord, the Lord who hears and answers his prayer for help. The Lord shows mercy. The Lord shows mercy. He says, “The Lord answered me and set me free.” It's like he's being freed from the place where he was surrounded by his enemies, freed from being engulfed by the swarm of bees, free from the raging fire that was coming toward him. Freedom, freedom from the distress. Distresses that we feel, I'm sure each of us, from various sources, from various afflictions, from various pressures that come to us in life. Free from the distress and the fear that is connected with it.
In the midst of situations that cause us distress, in midst of situations that lead us to fear, this Psalm reminds us that our best response is to pray. It is to pray to the Lord. Pray to the Lord who has been merciful to us in the past and He will be merciful to us in the future for He has a mercy that will endure forever. There's no end to His mercy for us. It's a mercy that will be forever and forever. It's a mercy that He showed to each of us when He saved us. Spurgeon writes,
As we read this psalm, we see as the psalmist reflects upon this glorious truth of the mercy of God, he is reminded of God's mercy, His past mercy to him. The past mercy that the Lord showed to him when he was in the midst of his distress. In verse 5, he says, “Out of my distress, I called on the Lord.” His distress, which seems to be related to, as we read later in the Psalm in verses 10 and 11, seems to be related to him being surrounded by nations, not friendly nations, we can imagine, but enemies, those who sought to do him harm. He was surrounded by them, by adversaries, by enemies. This distress, it gives the sense of him being boxed in a straight or narrow place. Perhaps if you've ever been in a deep valley with rock walls on either side, you can at times feel trapped or restricted or confined.
And I found it interesting that the picture that he is portraying of his being surrounded, he says in verse 12, “They surrounded me like bees.” And I have had the experience of being near a beehive. I've had the experience of seeing bees dumped into a hive. And as those bees are being dumped into a new hive, these bees just fly up and they begin to surround you like a cloud around you in every place. There's nowhere you can turn, there are bees everywhere. And even though I was wearing protective equipment and a beekeeping suit, yet I have to admit it was unsettling because being surrounded by those bees, you can feel as though you're being engulfed, a feeling that would create distress and alarm and perhaps for many people cause fear.
The sense of being surrounded is also then likened in verse 12 to as though they went out like a fire among thorns. And it gives this picture of a fire that is overrunning a field of dry thorns, moving rapidly through the field, quickly setting ablaze all that is in front of it, consuming everything in its path. This is what the psalmist is experiencing. This is a sense of the distress that he is feeling of being surrounded by things such as nations that hated him, his enemies, of being surrounded by bees and experiencing a fire that is raging toward him. And all of these give a picture of distress, distress that would produce in most people fear.
So in the midst of his distress, where does the psalmist go for help? Returning back to verse 5, we read that ‘out of my distress,’ what did he do? He called on the Lord. He didn't look to himself for help, he didn't look to others for help, he looked to the Lord. He cries out to the Lord, the Lord who hears and answers his prayer for help. The Lord shows mercy. The Lord shows mercy. He says, “The Lord answered me and set me free.” It's like he's being freed from the place where he was surrounded by his enemies, freed from being engulfed by the swarm of bees, free from the raging fire that was coming toward him. Freedom, freedom from the distress. Distresses that we feel, I'm sure each of us, from various sources, from various afflictions, from various pressures that come to us in life. Free from the distress and the fear that is connected with it.
In the midst of situations that cause us distress, in midst of situations that lead us to fear, this Psalm reminds us that our best response is to pray. It is to pray to the Lord. Pray to the Lord who has been merciful to us in the past and He will be merciful to us in the future for He has a mercy that will endure forever. There's no end to His mercy for us. It's a mercy that will be forever and forever. It's a mercy that He showed to each of us when He saved us. Spurgeon writes,
"Deep was our distress on account of our sin, and we were shut up as in prison under the law. But in answer to the prayer of faith, we obtained the liberty of full justification wherein Christ makes us free, and we are free indeed."
So the Lord has been merciful to us in the past in saving us, and we can be certain, have confidence that the Lord will continue to have mercy to us in the future. And we can say with confidence, “We have no need to fear, the Lord is on our side. What can man do to us?” Man can only do what God allows. He can go no further than what God permits. At worse, he can kill the body, but he cannot kill the soul.
So therefore, no matter what our circumstances might be as God's people, we can always be thankful. We can give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and His mercy to us as His people. For we know that the Lord is on our side, therefore we do not fear. We can call to Him in our times of distress, for He will hear and answer our prayers, for He is a God who is merciful. So may even this truth encourage us as we come to God in prayer.
So therefore, no matter what our circumstances might be as God's people, we can always be thankful. We can give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and His mercy to us as His people. For we know that the Lord is on our side, therefore we do not fear. We can call to Him in our times of distress, for He will hear and answer our prayers, for He is a God who is merciful. So may even this truth encourage us as we come to God in prayer.
Posted in Pastor Devotional