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"The Image of the Resting God"

"The Image of the Resting God"

by Dr. Darren McClellan on July 14, 2020

Answer me when I call, O God of my right!  You gave me room when I was in distress.  Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.  –Psalm 4:1

Imagining all that it will take for “thy Kingdom (to) come”, I am captivated by the image of God as the One who simply ‘gives us room.’  Some translations of Ps. 4:1 say that God “set me at large,” another “freed me when I was hemmed in” or “gave me relief from my troubles.”  Still another interesting translation, “in pressure thou hast enlarged me.”  Some of my friends have claimed to identify with that idea as a result of quarantine, but it sounds like the result of stress eating to me.  More preferably, as St. Augustine translated it, “Thou hast led me from the straits of sadness into the broad ways of joy.” 

Now that does sound like a trip worth taking!  With all of our struggles to establish a safe haven in these days, it is perhaps humbling to recognize the need for such ‘room’ in our own lives.  In the midst of a slowly grinding chaos, there is deep yearning for some sense of an alternative sanctuary.  Months ago, the experience of sacred space was likely found in the unhindered fellowship of God and good company of neighbors; but what now?  The absence of our regular support systems has brought some degree of distress upon us all. 

There are those who feel confined by the blessing of their own home.  Theirs is the hope of evacuation.  Then there are others whose flexibility is born out of necessity, who suffer the trouble of transience, and who wish for little else than a stationary place to sleep.  Theirs is the fear of eviction.  Others are feeling the need for room in their calendars for Sabbath or a fast from technology and social media.  Some need a break from unhealthy relationships or unfixable situations.  At some point in life, I can confess to all of the above.  Something’s got to give! 

The Apostle Paul said that if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience (Rom. 8:25).  But where are we supposed to wait without a room to wait in?  Where and how?  Such is the cry of the psalmist: Am I unworthy?  Have I done enough?  Is God even willing to hear my prayers?  Will I make it through?  In response to these questions, God’s act of ‘giving room’ involves clearing a path when the light at the end of the tunnel is yet unseen.  Finally, when the gift of ‘room’ is rightly understood as a gift of grace, then the question of our deserving is irrelevant.

Elsewhere, the psalmist declares, “He brought me out into a broad place; he delivered me, because he delighted me” (Ps. 18:19).  It is the particularity of God’s generous delight—the astounding notion that God loves even you (even me!)—that leads us to a deeper appreciation and acceptance of our place in this world.

So where do you need ‘room’ today?  How might God use you to provide ‘room’ for others?  How do you give and receive grace?

For the next two weeks, I will be pursuing the grace of Sabbath rest by means of family vacation.  My intention is “to lay down my burdens, down by the riverside” in West Virginia.  Claiming this sort of space as an act of soul care so does not come naturally to me, which is why I am glad that God declared it as a matter of divine command (Ex. 20:8). 

In the fantastic little book, Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now, Walter Brueggeman reminds me that 

“…(God’s) rest on the seventh say of creation has made clear (a) that YHWH is not an workaholic, (b) that YHWH is not anxious about the full functioning of creation, and (c) that the well-being of creation does not depend on endless work.  This performance and exhibit of divine rest thus characterize the God of creation, creation itself, and the creatures made in the image of the resting God.  Creation is to be enacted and embraced without defining anxiety” (p. 6).

As a prophetic voice for our age, Bruggemann’s extensive witness and interpretation often strike me as a dramatic departure from the trajectory of our current culture.  Having already said “yes” to so many worries, I want to know that God is up to something.  We all want to know that God is up to something good in these days—but rest?  How can this be?

The scriptures attest that ‘busyness’ does not equate with ‘holiness.’  This is news to many of us.  

However, if it is true—and I believe that it is—then I would like to get to know this ‘resting God.’  I would like to grow in this image.  I hope to be reintroduced very soon. 

Perhaps you do, too. 

By Your grace, Lord, hear our prayer!

      

Almighty God, as we climb the steep ascent to health and strength, we need the patience and trust which Thou canst give.  Bring release from bodily pain and from the tensions of mind which so often beset us.  When we are tempted to self-pity, be thou our deliverer.  Take from us our uneasiness and anxiety.  Cause us to be receptive to the promptings of thy Spirit.  Help us to understand that underneath are thy everlasting arms.  Amen.

                                                                        --E.H. Babbit, 1949.

 

Grace to You,

Darren



Image via Aaron Burden, Unsplash

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