We Are Set Free!

His Word: In my distress I prayed to the LORD, and the LORD answered me and set me free.   Psalm 118:5 NLT

Observation & Obedience:  David dedicates the entire chapter of Psalm 118 listing the things God has set him free from; and he will do the same for us! Our responsibility is to pray; God’s response is to answer. What do you need to be set free from today?

1) Fear: The LORD is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? (vs. 6).  Because of God’s faithful love for us and his constant protection, what and who do we need to fear? When it seems like the whole world is against us, we must recognize who is always for us! 

2) Helplessness: Yes, the LORD is for me; he will help me. I will look in triumph at those who hate me. Though hostile nations surrounded me, I destroyed them all with the authority of the LORD (vs. 7, 10).  Because God is for us, he will help us. We don’t have to live defeated and helpless lives. We have his power living in us through the Holy Spirit and with this power comes authority!

3) Trusting the wrong people:  It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in people (v. 8).  Have you experienced a breach of trust with someone you thought had your back? Regardless of one’s position and assumed power, people will inevitably let us down. And because of that, we are not to seek our refuge in others. There is only one person we can totally trust; God and God alone!

4) Failure: The LORD is my strength and my song; he has given me victory. The strong right arm of the LORD is raised in triumph. The strong right arm of the LORD has done glorious things! I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory! (vs. 14, 16, 21). As king, David knew what success looked like and what failure felt like. Because he recognized God as his ultimate strength, and not his own, he was set free from the fear of failing. He knew his victories came from God’s strong right arm.

5) Control: This is the LORD’s doing, and it is wonderful to see. This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it   (vs. 23-24).  David acknowledged that his failures and victories were in God’s hands. He also knew that it wasn’t his responsibility to control everything. God was the one who produced the day with the rising and the setting of the sun, not David. His job was to rejoice and be glad for it. 

Do you need to be set free from any of these?  Has fear taken over your life? Do you feel helpless? Have you put your trust in the wrong people? Do you worry constantly about failing? Do you need to control every situation you encounter?  If you answered yes to more than one, you are probably in distress. What did David do in his distress? He prayed to God and was set free!

Prayer: It’s time to break the chains and experience true freedom.  Picture yourself being tied up by the things listed above. They are choking the life out of you. They are keeping you from growing in your faith; in fact, they are stunting your growth. Let them go. Give them to God and ask him to set you free. Envision the chains loosening and falling to the floor, one by one.

Describe what your life would look like without fear and helplessness. How would you feel when you recognized that you could trust God and he would never let you down? Think how freeing it would be to not worry about your failures or having to control it all.

Encouragement:  Feed your fears and your faith will starve. Feed your faith and your fears will starve.  Max Lucado