I feel blessed in being just a few minutes away from beautiful countryside. Yesterday Gabrielle and I drove to Killearn and had a walk in the Spring sunshine. It was good to see others with the same idea breaking out of the ‘self isolation’ that is now an important part of our lives. We also noticed more cyclists on the road than usual. My guess is that some would be home workers having a break.
The experience of being hemmed in was familiar to David. We read time and again in the Psalms of pressure brought to bear on him by enemies, sometimes quite literally restricting his movement. Psalm 18 speaks of a time like this but God intervened on his behalf and:
‘He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.’ (v. 19)
Again in Psalm 31 he speaks of a similar experience and he praises God:
‘You have not handed me over to the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.’ (v. 8)
We can speak of this in physical terms. David is once again able to move freely, to break out of the restrictions place on him by those who meant him harm. But you cannot escape the sense of inner release. Spiritually he is able to breathe again. He has been released from the oppression of anxiety and fear. His inner life has become a ‘spacious place.’
That kind of inner space will become important for us all in the months ahead. Every day seems to bring more restrictions on our lives. Freedoms that we took for granted are having to be given up as the crisis deepens. That can affect our inner lives. We will need to create space to breathe in the reality of God.
People have sometimes spoken of their souls ‘expanding’ as they take in the beauty of creation, listen to sublime music or drawn into a great book or work of art. Christians have described worship in this way. As we gather with other believers to pray, listen to the Word and share the Lord’s Supper it seems as if a door is being opened to a deeper reality in Christ. We are now having to set this aside for the time being but that inner expansion is possible with the resources we still have. In one of his songs Bob Dylan speaks of feeding his soul with thought. We can still feed our souls with the Written Word, with prayer, with the voices of faith arising from the world wide Christian community. All of this is proof against a spiritual shrinkage that could lead to frustration, anxiety and depression.
This morning I was reading Mark’s account of the Resurrection of Jesus. It’s not hard to imagine the heaviness of heart experienced by the women as they went to the tomb even apart from the the practical problem of who would roll away the stone. But then they encountered God’s messenger in the tomb, an experience that took them beyond their sadness and anxiety. The Word of God breaking in which would later expand their souls:
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ ” (Mark 16: 6-7)
It didn’t all come together for them immediately. Mark describes them in the aftermath of their experience as trembling, bewildered and afraid. But this would later give way to an assurance that they were now forever in God’s ‘spacious place’ where they could breathe in the reality of His love and power revealed in the Resurrection. Something they would later experience in whatever circumstances threatened to hem them in.
That can be our experience if we stay close to the promises of God. I wish for you all ever expanding souls through the Word, prayer and community.
