Finding Your Spacious Place

Have you ever experienced, "the end of your rope?" Maybe you can think of a specific situation last year, or last month, or in the last 10 seconds. It seems like anxiety and stress are at an all time high these days. Along with some very sweet friends, I am currently participating in the Bible study Get Out of Your Head by Jennie Allen. This study is focused on stopping the spiral of toxic thoughts. What a perfect study for such a time as this, right? In my previous post, I wrote about the multitude of thoughts that have been striving to wreak havoc on my pursuit of peace. We are in a time of unprecedented uncertainty. The arms of control freaks around the world are exhausted because all they're doing these days is throwing their hands up in air. When a pandemic of this magnitude hits, we find out how little we really have control over. This is the perfect time for a Bible study on using scripture to take control of our thoughts.

A Surprising Realization

In the first week of the study, Jennie asked us to make a list of 10 things we had thought about that day. From those ten thoughts, I was to identify the emotion that was most prevalent, and then make a mind map that illustrated that emotion's presence in different areas of my life. I anticipated that Jennie thought this would reveal some deep, dark emotion and I approached the activity with great confidence. I feel like I am in a really good place- mentally and emotionally. Life is good, my eyes have been much more open to God's abundant blessings, I'm working on replacing anxiety with God's peace.... I'm good!!! Also, I did this activity around 7:45 in the morning so what deep dark emotion could I have possibly experienced so early in my day? I had just been on a God run and that alone was the extent of my day so far. I was in a really great place!

I listed the 10 things I had thought about so far and was still feeling quite confident about the activity. This wasn't going to yield what Jennie had planned. My list of emotions included excitement, gratefulness, a little anxiety, worry, guilt, pressure, pressure, pressure, and then... you guessed it... more pressure. What??? I thought I was good! Life has taken on a much more positive outlook since I've taken more time to spend in prayer and in the Word. I couldn't possibly ask for anything else in my life. All is well! How could I possible be feeling and thinking about these negative emotions? I was floored that so many of my thoughts were centered around pressure. And what I realized was this pressure is not from outside sources. It's from me! In each area: family, work, friendships, church, writing, finances, housework... the pressure is all from me.

The Answer to the Pressure

After I picked my heart up off the floor, (thanks, Jennie, I thought I was doing ok these days!) I decided I wasn't patient enough to wait and see what the next week's lesson advised. I went straight to google and typed in "scriptures to combat pressure." Y'all, the first hit I visited had 100 verses!!! I guess this is a real thing that God addresses multiple times in His Word. I had to pull back from that and focus in on a few less scriptures. I found a site that had 29 verses. That was a little more attainable.

I started reading through each of the scriptures and found an interesting phrase... spacious place. Check out these verses:

He brought me out into a spacious place;

he rescued me because he delighted in me.

Psalm 18:19

You have not given me into the hands of the enemy

but have set my feet in a spacious place.

Psalm 31:8

When hard pressed, I cried to the Lord;

he brought me into a spacious place.

Psalm 118:5

I love when you are researching something in scripture and God brings you to a little treasure you've never seen before and know nothing about. Spacious place- I don't recall ever reading this phrase before but I'm so intrigued. I honestly didn't know what was meant by this "spacious place" but it sounded wonderful and I definitely wanted to learn more.

I am always alerted when I see certain words or phrases repeated in scripture. I feel like it's a big, red, audible flag shouting, "Pay attention! This is important!" I felt that way about this idea of a spacious place being repeated three times in the same book of the Bible. Each time, the words came from David, a man who had faced a multitude of adversity, pressure, and stress. And I love the theme of these collective verses. In times of trouble, the Lord rescued David and took him to a "spacious place."

Finding the Meaning

Before I ran to google or my concordance, I tried to figure out the meaning of this phrase on my own. I know that when I experience pressure and stress, I feel like I'm backed into a corner- boxed in and trapped. The opposite of this would be a feeling of room to move around, room to breathe, and a place wide open- full of freedom. I wondered if this is what David meant by a spacious place.

I went back to the book of Psalm and read more context found around each verse. In each of these chapters (Psalm 18, 31, and 118), I read the same words and ideas. Look at what I found in all three chapters:

• David expressed a feeling of distress or being hard-pressed. (He named his emotion.)

• He called out to the Lord.

• He referred to God as his helper and/or his refuge.

• He used terms of praise:

  • "I love you, Lord, my strength!" (Psalm18:1)

  • " ... the Lord who is worthy of praise" (Psalm 18:3)

  • "I will be glad and rejoice in your love." (Psalm 31:7)

  • "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good" (Psalm 118:1)

Friends, do any of you feel backed in a corner? Are any of you self-diagnosed control freaks who don't know what to do with yourselves in this current state of uncertainty and distress? Let's be like David! He definitely made his share of mistakes, but he was also known for chasing after God and for having a heart like His. There's so much wisdom born from experience in the words David wrote in the Psalms. Have we stopped to reflect upon what we're feeling? Have we called out to the Lord and acknowledged that He's our refuge and who our strength comes from? Have we praised him for what He's done for us and what He will do according to His promises?

I'll be honest. When I feel backed in a corner and trapped by my circumstances, sometimes I struggle to form the words of my cries to the Lord. It's a point of surrender and handing it all over. It's an ugly place to be, but it's also a beautiful place to be. It's in that place I realize I'm trying to fix things on my own. It's in that very place that my need for the Lord is made blatantly evident. It's in that place that I become dependent upon Him and release my hold of control. This is the spacious place David speaks of; the place of release, of room to breathe, and of freedom from bondage.

There's one more section of the verse from Psalm 18:19 that I must emphasize before I conclude. At the end of verse 19, David said, "he rescued me because he delighted in me." Did you grasp that? The Lord delights in us. David was an imperfect person who acted in imperfect ways, yet the Lord delighted in him. Zephaniah 3:17 says

"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."

In this time of uncertainty, distress, and the pressures we put on ourselves, let's change our approach. Let's cry out to the Lord, praising Him for who He is, allowing Him to pick us up and provide our refuge and strength. Don't you want to be quieted by his love? He delights in us and wants to be our safe, spacious place.

A few days ago, Toby Mac posted a quote by Alisha Illian that this:

"Republican or Democrat.

Mask or no mask.

Canceled or not canceled.

Covid or no Covid.

School or no school.

God is still on this throne,

in control, and very near."

His promises still remain, Friends! Draw near and find that spacious place. Let's release our hold of the stress, pressures, and anxiety. He's in control so we don't have to be. What a gift! I pray that we will claim these promises and believe them to be true.