Verses that inspire

 

Our ole buddy, David, had quite a way with words, didn't he? (Grin)

I was reading in II Samuel and realized that David's song there had been incorporated into one of the psalms -- number eighteen -- perhaps we will dig into it further when we get there. This verse inspired me:

He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.  (II Samuel 22:20)

Human beings take things for granted when they are familiar. Ho-hum, nothing to get excited about. Stories are told of soldiers crouched in foxholes who wistfully recall the "normal" everyday things of life back home . . . something as ordinary as the light through their window in their childhood home or perhaps a certain food that mom or grandma cooked for them.  Anything that we have in abundance, or with regularity, seems unimportant until we no longer can have it. Then it becomes so very important, and it's the desire of our hearts!

At this point in David's life, he was on the run; he was a soldier in command of many men, but being pursued by a maniacal, vengeful king. You recall the story, I'm sure. God had removed His blessings from David's predecessor on the throne, Saul, and had anointed David as the next king. Saul chased him hither and yon and tried many times to kill David. Saul was tormented (I Samuel 16) and sought David's life, so the younger man hid himself and his men in caves.

Imagine what it must have been like for David and his soldiers. Long nights in dark, cramped, caves. There's no guarantee that they were dry spaces; they may have had moisture on the walls and water running along the rocky floors. Pungent with the odors of sweat and filth. Searing heat and not much air circulation during each long day. Probably strict silence so that they would not be found by Saul's soldiers. Cold food, if they had any, since fires would be too risky. Aching with missing their wives and their children. Fearing for their lives . . . what was that noise from outside the cave? Was it the wind? A wild animal? Or death, in the form of enemy soldiers? They must have often dreamed of the wide, open spaces of the hills. Or the spacious plains. 

God miraculously delivered David. With His mighty hand, He defeated David's enemies and brought him out to spacious places. He delivered David from the blackest, dampest cave to a royal throne. And this is the gospel! God does this for everyone that He saves! He brings us from a place of darkness to a spacious place of light.

Why?

Well, our verse says that God rescued David because He delighted in David. And that is, perhaps, the hardest part to understand fully. Why does God rescue us? Because He delights in us. As strange as it seems to us, our holy God delights in people who are fallen, lost, wallowing in sin, and filthy with the stench of sin and rebellion. People who have countless times cursed God; the whole sinful world; He rescues all because He delights in all of us.

This boggles my mind sometimes. He delights in me? A human who has sinned more times than I can count? A mortal who is exceedingly small compared to the loving Creator of the universe? How does He even know I exist? Know my name? Delight in me? Rejoice over me? 

Because He loves tiny, sinful me. And He loves tiny, sinful you. 

Yes, God brought even me out into a spacious place. He rescued me because He delighted in me.

This is the gospel in a nutshell.

This is good news!

If a verse or a passage has inspired you recently, won't you share it in the comments? Thanks!