Psalm 31:8 - Breathing Fresh Air

It's no surprise, that the devil wants to confine people--if not in shackles, then at least in a prison. [Those "Escape Rooms" don't appeal to me for entertainment!] Besides a literal prison, it could be an emotional prison that appears to have no exit door.  Maybe we feel like someone put out a restraining order so we can't approach God. Perhaps it's a dead-end job that has no end in sight. Illness can confine people to a wheelchair, or a medical center.  

Psalm 31:8 says,
"You do not deliver me over to the power of the enemy;
you enable me to stand in a wide open place." [NET Bible]

NIV renders the last phrase, "In a spacious place."  ESV, "in a broad place"

"wide open place" reminds me of climbing Long's Peak in Colorado... or any number of other mountain hikes. That's such a contrast to a dank, windowless prison cell or a cave used as a cell.

Like David, we also have an enemy: the devil. His goal is to destroy people. And if not totally destroy them, at least let them think they're all alone and God has forsaken them.

David says that God will, "enable me to stand in a wide open place."
He envisions himself outside the prison walls, and no shackles are holding him back.
That's the difference between captivity by satan vs. being set free by God.

Father,
Satan would love to see me cowering in a cave, but you haven't given me over to the evil one. Give me the power to "stand in a wide open place," breathing the fresh air and not held back by prison walls or shackles. All the credit goes to You for enabling me to stand "in a wide open place." And if I find myself imprisoned, like some of the apostles, then let my mind be free to sing your praises. In Jesus' name, Amen.