Why 'The Spacious Place'?
Have you ever felt trapped, boxed in, smothered? The feeling might be familiar if you’ve experienced depression or anxiety, battled chronic illness, struggled with grief, been a victim of an abusive relationship, or contended with any number of other very human sufferings.
Some years ago, I was caught in a fight against both chronic illness and anxiety. Being in constant pain and not having a definitive diagnosis led my mind in all sorts of unhealthy directions. What if they never figure out what’s wrong with me? What if the pain never goes away? What if the diagnosis brings a death sentence? (The what ifs are not our friends! ) Each day seemed like being trapped in a very small, dark place. I couldn’t see outside my present circumstances, and any thought of the future held only fear.
One day as I sat praying, trying to push through the fear, I saw a picture. I was standing in complete darkness. I couldn’t see the walls or the ceiling, but my sense was that I was trapped in some kind of box. I was afraid to move and could see no way out. It was a perfect illustration of how I felt in that period of my life. I asked God what I should do. How do I get out of the darkness?
Now I know God speaks to people in a variety of different ways, so if this strange to you, bear with me. At the time, I also thought it was strange. In the vision, I had the sense that God was telling me to reach down and pick something up. I did so and discovered an object about the size, shape, and weight of a bowling ball. What am I supposed to do with this? Throw it. What? You heard me, throw it. But I’m not very strong. I’ll probably drop it on my foot. Do you trust me? Yes, Lord.
So I threw the bowling ball, and what I saw next was astounding. The ball did not in fact go very far, but it went far enough. Mere inches from my face the ball tore through the wall of the box, which turned out to be only paper. The tear exposed a green meadow, blue skies, and bright sunlight. As the paper box crumpled to the ground, I found that I was standing in a spacious place that was warm and welcoming. I had actually been standing there all along. I just didn’t know it. The darkness was only paper thin, but it had blinded me to the reality of God’s love.
My illness didn’t immediately disappear, nor did the anxiety, but God had given me hope — a promise that he was leading me into freedom, that his reality was more solid than my prison. Later, as I was exploring this idea of a spacious place, I came across Psalm 18:19. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. The truth of this verse washed over me with profound significance. Could he really delight in me?
Next I encountered Exodus 3:8. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. God’s promise of deliverance for the Israelites assured me that he also heard my cry and that my future held more than darkness. He would rescue me. This is my story and it is yours. It is the story of redemption. He hears our cries. He longs to bring us out into a spacious place if we will let him. The journey isn’t always easy, but he is with us.
Friends, God is for you, not against you. Do you believe it?
In Luke 4, Jesus stands in the synagogue and reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
That’s quite a bold proclamation! And it’s meant for you.
If you are intimately familiar with that dark box, I want to encourage you. The box is not your destiny. God’s love for you is boundless. In him, there is freedom from captivity. There is joy in the midst of struggle. There is light that can destroy the darkness. A Spacious Place has been prepared for you.
