Written by Dawn Rutan
“He brought me out into a broad place;
He rescued me, because He delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19 ESV).
I read this verse last night and saw it in a new light. Usually when I’ve read it I’ve thought to myself, “I hope that will be true one day.” The cares and pressures of today often leave me looking for a way out of what feels like a narrow valley. But as I looked at it from a bird’s eye view I thought about it a little differently.
Looking back over my life, and particularly the last few years, I can see many examples of ways that God has rescued me and brought me out into open spaces. He’s lightened heavy burdens; He’s brought freedom from some areas of sin and fear; He’s opened doors for honesty that I never imagined. He’s torn down many of the walls I had built to protect myself—walls that restricted me more than I realized. Today I am in a much broader place than I have been before.
In a very real way, God has rescued me from myself. But from an even higher perspective, He has also rescued me from the enemy—from sin and death. As Paul said, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14). We have been rescued and made citizens of a new country full of light and open places. I was reminded of the scene from Pilgrim’s Progress when Christian journeys through the Valley of the Shadow of Death in pitch darkness:
“Now, morning being come, he looked back, not out of desire to return, but to see, by the light of day, what dangers he had gone through in the dark. So he saw more perfectly the ditch that was on the one hand, and the quag that was on the other; also how narrow the way which led betwixt them both. Also now he saw the hobgoblins, and satyrs, and dragons of the pit, but all afar off; for after break of day they came not night; yet they were shown to him according to that which is written, ‘He showeth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death” (Part 1 Chapter IV).
The valley is dark and full of dangers, but the road ahead is wide open and brightly lit.
But perhaps the best part of Psalm 18:19 is the ending, “because He delighted in me.” God rescues and delivers us not out of pity or obligation, but out of delight. That is almost incomprehensible to us if we’re honest. There’s not much within us to make us “delightful,” but God sees something we can’t. Jesus endured the cross “for the joy that was set before Him” (Hebrews 12:2), and that joy was in the salvation of the children of God.
So I’m reading Psalm 18 differently these days and seeing how God is continually at work rescuing us and bringing us out into open, safe places. Although God doesn’t always deliver us the way we want or expect, there are probably many “little” rescues that we aren’t even aware of. Other rescues happen so gradually that we don’t see them unless we are specifically looking. And then there is the eternal rescue that has been transacted and will be fully realized in eternity. That one makes it worth it all.
“For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:5). “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
© 2017 Dawn Rutan. The views stated may or may not reflect the beliefs of the pastor or leadership of Dulin’s Grove Church.
