Ten months ago I was beginning to recuperate from serious heart surgery. At that time the Lord became especially dear to me as I drew sustenance from His Word. The daily restoration of my soul has been an abiding and continuing blessing since that time. I am still regularly mining the depths of the riches of His grace. Today I share one of the meditations that I posted on Facebook at that time.
I took great encouragement today from Psalm 4:1, and from some guarded sense of physical strengthening. The Lord is truly restoring my soul. I was able to do some things, including a conference with a willing helper who will take on some Village ministry tasks. Other helpers have already kicked into gear and the reports of their progress make my heart sing.
But it was the time in the Word that was my greatest blessing. Psalm 23 has turned me toward a new and fresh excursion into that precious collection of poetic songs that are drenched in God centered truth. As a boy my dad, when he was a pastor and seminary professor, had a daily five-minute radio broadcast entitled Songs in the Psalms. I wish I could hear his voice of teaching, but I know that I can turn to the same textbook that he taught — God’s Psalms to us.
The verse in the KJV says, “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.” I sat in Walmart, while Connie was shopping for needed food, and studied on my iPhone. I found the phrase “enlarged me when I was in distress” to literally be “in distress (a narrow space) you make a place large for me.”
Our colloquial expression would be: “You got me out of a tight spot.” Although I like the NKJV better, when it helpfully translates the phrase, “You have relieved me in my distress”.
One commentator said something like this, “After the Lord has faithfully delivered us from distress six times, is he going to say, no, not a seventh time too?” Connie and I rehearsed this morning many times in our lives when God graciously brought us through the periods of distress. The Great Shepherd is faithfully caring for those who trust him. “I shall not want.”
Grace Journey 