5. I called upon the Lord in distress, or, “out of anguish I invoked Jah.” Nothing was left him but prayer, his agony was too great for aught beside; but having the heart and the privilege to pray he possessed all things. Prayers which come out of distress generally come out of the heart, and therefore they go to the heart of God. Prayer may be bitter in the offering, but it will be sweet in the answering. The man of God had called upon the Lord when he was not in distress, and therefore he found it natural and easy to call upon him when he was in distress. He worshiped, he praised, he prayed: for all this is included in calling upon God, even when he was in a straitened condition. Some read the original “a narrow gorge”; and therefore it was the more joy to him when he could say, the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place. In God’s case hearing means answering, hence the translators rightly put the Lord answered me, though the original word is “heard.” Many of us can join with the psalmist in the declarations of this verse: deep was our distress on account of sin, and we were shut up as in a prison under the law, but in answer to the prayer of faith we obtained the liberty of full justification wherewith Christ makes men free, and we are free indeed. It was the Lord who did it, and unto his name we ascribe all the glory; we had no merits, no strength, no wisdom; all we could do was to call upon him, and even that was his gift; but the mercy which is to eternity came to our rescue, and we were brought out of bondage, and made to delight in the length and breadth of a boundless inheritance. All things are ours, all times are ours, all places are ours, for God himself is ours; we have earth to lodge in and heaven to dwell in—what larger place can be imagined? We need all Israel, the whole house of Aaron, and all them that fear the Lord, to assist us in the expression of our gratitude.
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