God’s Grace in the Narrow Place
Are you feeling stressed? These are difficult days.
You find yourself going through times of stress (interrupted by distress). As a believer, what should you do? Turn away from your distractions for a few moments to consider the relief offered to you in Psalm 4:1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
As David thought about the Scriptures, they brought his own experiences to mind. He frequently found himself in distress, and God had answered his prayer in those stressful times.
The Narrow Place
“Distress” refers to a tight or narrow place. David found himself in such circumstances quite frequently. And sometimes, this was literal. When he fled from King Saul or even from his own son, Absalom, David was in some tight spots. If you have even been to Mammoth Caves or another cave system you know the experience. Sometimes you have to squeeze through tight places. That is what he was referring to. Your distress might be financial trouble or family trouble. You may feel hemmed in by health concerns. Or maybe you feel that your back is to the wall, and you don’t know what to do next. Sometimes it’s hard to know which way to turn. This is much more than mere inconvenience. You find yourself between the proverbial “rock and a hard place.” Is there any help in these circumstances?
God’s Grace
According to the psalmist, God had relieved him in his distress in times past. The psalmist used the word “relieved” or “enlarged” with great emphasis.1 When David felt himself to be in a tight spot, the Lord had enlarged his way. When it seemed as if there were nowhere to turn, God gave him options. He gave David a way to escape from trouble. Any believer who is reading this can say, “Lord, you have relieved me in my distress!” You remember when He did that for you in the past. Now it’s time to ask Him to do it again.
It is likely that Paul had this verse in mind when he wrote these words, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 10:12). The word “distresses” in this verse captures the same idea as that found in Psalm 4:1. Both words convey the idea of a narrow place: a tight spot. But the grace of Jesus Christ delivered the apostle from his tight spots. God gave Paul the ability to go through the challenge. With God’s strength working in and through him, Paul could conclude, “. . . when I am weak, then I am strong.”
- In David’s prayer, it’s important to note the words, “O God of my righteousness.” According to Isaiah 64:6, all human righteousness looks like dirty rags in God’s sight. In other words, what man would call righteous is not righteous at all. What then did the psalmist mean by “O God my righteousness?” One author commented about this phrase, “This God of righteousness, David believingly calls his God . . .for the righteousness he possesses, he possesses in Him, and the righteousness he looks for, he looks for in Him.”2 David did not pray by appealing to his own rags; He appealed to the God of righteousness. This is the God who clothes His believers in righteousness. Old Testament believers looked ahead to the Messiah who would come for their righteous vindication.
New Testament believers look back to the finished work of Christ for their righteous vindication. If you have trusted in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for your eternal salvation, you are clothed in Christ’s righteousness. Romans 4:25 tells you that Christ was delivered up to the cross for your sinful offenses; He was raised again for your righteous vindication. When Abraham believed God’s promise, He placed righteousness on Abraham’s account (Galatians 3:6). Paul was referring to this righteousness in Philippians 3:9; it was not his own righteousness or righteous acts but God’s righteousness placed upon him. In 2 Corinthians 6:7, Paul referred to this as “the armor of righteousness.” David made his appeal to the God who had made him righteous – to the God who would vindicate him.
Praying for Grace in the Narrow Place
Here’s the point. Through prayer, you gain access to God’s grace in the narrow place. All these things were expressed in David’s prayer: “Hear me when I call . . . Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer!” Perhaps the writer of Hebrews was thinking of this verse when he wrote, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). The past trials of David’s faith helped him to patiently endure in this new trial. He turned to God in prayer, remembering that the God of his righteousness would relieve him in his deep distress.
He knew that God would give him options in the tightest of spots. David had the confidence that God would hear him when he called. And God’s answer would relieve him in His distress.
And this is God’s grace in the narrow place.
Gordon Dickson is the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Finlay, OH.
- Hiphil Perfect [↩]
- Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 5 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 67. [↩]