Psalm 118 – what a wonderful song of David. I know you know many songs that have been written from this Psalm. One day in Heaven, the Psalmist himself can sing it for us.

We know songs like, “Forever” and “This is the Day”, “Hosana (blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord)”, and so many others. Today I am thinking of Hezekiah Walker’s song, “God is For Me”.

Psalm 118:4 says, “let those who fear the Lord say, ‘His faithful love endures forever.” That’s a good place to start, then there comes action and understanding for us to experiences.

David knew trouble, he says in v12, “they surrounded me like bees… 13 they pushed me hard to make me fall 14 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” It is often only THROUGH it all, that we understand who is IN it all, and is FOR us.

Let me come back to the verse that spoke to me today: this phrase David used elsewhere because Life is Hard. v5 “I called to the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and put me in a spacious place.” Let me tell you the “spacious place”; the spacious place is faith, truth, and love.

Here is the understanding, I often say, “not all things are good, but God IS good in all things.”

v6 – “the Lord is FOR me” – FOR = Toward

Oh people, if we call to the Lord, take our eyes off the distress, and put them on the Lord… When I look to the Lord, I find he is looking on me, toward me, over me, and what I face. Our adversary, that liar, says God doesn’t car… but The LORD IS FOR ME. and so, I will NOT be afraid… I will recognize then, what can a mere mortal do to me?. David sings this also in Psalm 56:4, 11 – a passage I love, and have written my own song along that verse. David is quoted in Hebrews 13:6 and recalled in Romans 8:31.

When I’m looking at my trouble, my adversary, they might seem large, formidable, but when I look to the Lord, I put them in perspecive, and even if they seem bigger than me, God is Bigger, God is For / toward me.

So, I will not BE afraid. In that understanding, David sings, in Psalm 56:4, “in God, whose word I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

I love the comparative options in Psalm 56:3,4 – WHEN I am afraid, I will trust… 4… in God I trust, I will NOT BE afraid. If fear sunk in, trust God, and in that spacious place, fear, like darkness, is pushed out by light, and if I will trust, sit in that spacious place, then fear’s darkness can’t get in.

In Distress, say, “God is For me” keep singing that – Look to Him – Call to Him – Trust Him – He is God – He is in Control – Victory is Coming.

What is the “worst” a human can do? Take your life? Well, only if God allows, and then Sudden Death = Sudden Glory –

God is FOR me.