Wide Open Spaces

There was lots of clean air and open space wherever you looked.

Psalm 118:1-29

Reference: When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord; he brought me into a spacious place. (‭Psalm‬ ‭118‬:‭5‬ NIV)

Explore: I grew up in a small country town. The CBD had about 7 shops and there certainly wasn’t any sky scrapers. In fact, the whole town only had one double storey house in it.

There was lots of clean air and open space wherever you looked.

Moving to our state’s capital city for university was quite a change for me. While I loved the new opportunities, I found that every couple of weeks I would need to head home. In the city I felt hemmed in and the noise and busyness would become overwhelming.

A weekend back home would help. It gave me the clean air and the open space I needed to deal with the next month back in the big smoke.

Application: The writer of Psalm 118 may not have needed clean air away from the city, but he was feeling hard pressed. Where did he go? To God. And what did God provide? A spacious place.

I was fortunate to have a country get away from the rat race of life, but there are some things that a country vacation will not fix. That’s why I’m even more fortunate to have God in my life.

He is able to open up vast expanses of space where you never even realised there was a gap. He can turn hardened hearts into compassionate allies.

There is no task too difficult, no problem too big. We serve the God of spacious places. All we need to do is ask God to take us there.

Prayer: Lord, You have more before us than we could ever imagine. May we step boldly into Your spacious places, trusting that You know what is best for us. Amen.

What hard pressed place do you need God to bring you out of?

busyness, challenge, city, country, opportunity, Psalm