Space

As I have already noted, Henri Nouwen stated that our spiritual disciplines, “…create space for God…”

To be honest, it is a sad indictment of our faith that we have to discipline ourselves to find room for the Creator. Nonetheless, as we all know, our sinful nature and our seductive world compete for our time, attention, and worship, and God often gets pushed out altogether.

So, we need spiritual disciplines to give God the space He deserves.

The celebration of Sabbath, for instance, intentionally places God at the beginning of our week, and evening prayer purposely places God at the end of our day. However, we often forget Him for the rest of the time.

Perhaps a better approach is not just to create space for God at the beginning and end of our day but to make the “…Beginning and End…” (Revelation 22:13) the centre of our lives. 

A helpful image is found in the prophetic symbolism of Ezekiel. The city is in the centre of the nation, the temple in the centre of the city, and the sanctuary in the centre of the temple.

A river of life and healing flows out from this holy place. Everything flows out from the centre (Proverbs 4:23). This is a picture of a Spirit-filled life (John 7:37). Is God positioned at the edges of our world – or is He in the middle?

Robert