"God's Protective Fold"

"He brought me forth also into a large place; He delivered me, because He delighted in me." (Psalms 18:19) Now just in case you might be thinking that David had some special qualities that might have made God be delighted in him, it was not by David's merit that God delighted in him, but for God's great grace and love. To be perfectly honest with ourselves, we must consider what it is that separates us from God's holiness, and then examine our heart with that measuring stick. What we will find by doing that, is a large gap between where we need to be and where we are. This is the wondrous work of justification, and how special we are to God, that He would desire us be brought into a place where we can fellowship with Him. God's great desire for man is that he might fellowship with Him; to be one with Him and to experience all that He is. Sin is what destroyed that fellowship; making man a sinful creature, and causing there to be a vast separation between God and man. Remembering back to those days before Christ entered my heart, I was always hungry for something to fill a deep void within me; and not knowing what that was, I tried all sorts of different things to try and fill that void. That void was the fellowship that I was missing with God; and nothing that I tried could take the place of that! Jesus came and died upon that cross to restore our fellowship with the Father, and to be a bridge between that vast gap separating us from the holiness of God. I also do remember as a child, that I sang songs about Jesus; songs like, "Jesus Loves me, this I know". Although I was only about five or six years old, I can still remember of picture on the wall in the Sunday School room, which showed Jesus knocking at the door. When we examine the "large place" that David is speaking of, there are a couple different options that he could be speaking of, and both are primarily the same general premise of a large place to run around in; much like a sheep fold, which is not a confined pen, but a vast area where they can run and play. The two differences that we find associated with these folds, is that one is separated sheep that are spotless, while the other is for the spotted sheep that have not yet been washed. Both of these folds are protected, and both are for God's children; it's just that one is filled with green pastures, and the other is not. Those green pastures are the rest that we have once we do open that door and let Jesus into our heart...