He brought me out into a spacious place… Psalm 18:19

Suffering in this life is like being trapped in a narrow canyon with towering walls that block out the sun and stars. There are treacherous stretches of life that appear to have no end and necessitate only one labored step at a time.

Distress applies pressure to all sides, causing breath-taking claustrophobia, making the need to move desperately, and yet, ironically unthinkable.

Common in suffering is often the feeling of being restrained, held back by our limitations, unknowns, failures, grief, or frustrations.

To outstretch the arms and not meet resistance, breathing in the fresh air of the open sky and taking in the full scope of the distant horizon becomes the heart’s cry from the pit of despair!

The human experience.

In this world, every person will walk these narrow places at different points along their journey.

Where can I go to find encouragement?

Are there words I can cling to when I find myself in this place?

The testimony of King David, who battled both against foe and soul, has been a helpful place to land for me.

He speaks of a faithful God Who kept him close through the straights of life. His words are a powerful witness, as he contemplates his past “canyon” experiences in the latter half of his life.

His reflection is vital knowledge for those who worship his God.

He shares with us the fullness of Gods faithfulness so clearly, God who has set him in a spacious place.

I need to listen carefully to the testimony of this Saint. His words are a gift, a true picture of hope that can be applied rightly in my own circumstance.

The description of Psalm 18, in the New King James Version, sets the scene.

- A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.

He is singing from a spacious place and it is a song about the whole of his life in retrospect.

He uses solid imagery to describe his God, a rock, a fortress, horn of my salvation.

His illustration evokes a personal memory of mine as I read his words feeling kinship with a King.

A couple of years ago, our family hiked down the wall of the Grand Canyon on a man made trail chiseled out of the side of a mountain. There was a rock wall right opposite of a straight drop off and I clung to it as I made my way down.

I remember, the closer I stayed to that solid rock, the safer I felt on the path.

The picture that David paints, his words, they are real and reasonable.

I can bypass every word of testimony given to teach me about God through His people, but I have to ask myself, “Do I have enough life to learn everything on my own?”

Do I see these stories as a lifeline in my own walk of faith? Do I garner any hope or encouragement finding that I am not the first to suffer and will not be the last, that the Lord lives and He is my Rock, just as He was King David’s.

I too will be brought into a spacious place where I can look back on the faithfulness of my God that I cannot fully grasp in the moment of my own distress.

For now, I can lean into David’s words and trust that the same God that delivered him will deliver me.

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