Keeping Spaces

Psalms 132:1-9
From September 8, 2005

Of all the reality shows that have been on television in recent years, I try to make it a point to see none of them. They’re popular and that’s OK, I guess. They just don’t intrigue me but then we all have our own things that we like.

I think I have seen an episode of “The Amazing Race” once at the recommendation of my friends and that was fine. I think I saw half of a Survivor episode a few years ago. With the recent news that former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Gary Hogeboom would be on the newest edition, my curiosity might be aroused enough to peek in.

The rest of them--I can’t even name them all--I have tried to dodge: “Big Brother,” “Ugly Duckling,” “The Batchelor/ette,” “Wife Swap,” “Elimidate,” “Who Wants to Date A Hooters Girl,” “My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé/Boss/Mother-In-Law,” “Queer Eye For The Normal, Healthy, Well-Adjusted Guy.”

Another popular one, with many knock-offs, is “Trading Spaces.” Not content to renovate their own house, a la Bob Vila, people choose to swap houses and renovate someone else’s place while surrendering their castle to the whims of the other. I think that is how it works. The trouble for some of us is that we haven’t established a “space” for which someone else would trade.

Verses 3-5 say, “Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, or go up to the comfort of my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty God of Jacob.”

For some of us, that place may be geographical. We may need to find a good church or a routine spot to have our regular, daily devotional time with the Lord. For me, and maybe for you, that place is chronological. That is to say my geography is settled but I find it a greater challenge to carve out a significant place in time within the daily schedule.

Allocating a time slot for something means trading spaces. Sure, I can sing and shower, I can eat pizza and watch a movie, and I can drive while sipping a soda. While multi-tasking is a current business buzzword, there are some things, such as completing tax returns and playing chess, that typically demand one’s full attention. Call it devotion.

Spending time with God’s Word each day requires devotion also. It must be a priority--over sleeping, as the writer expressed, or eating or playing or working--in order to know how to live as He would have us to. Unless a firm and secure place is blocked out in our schedule, it probably won’t happen.

Once we solidify a place and time for meeting God in our routine every day, the reality is that we won’t want to trade those spaces for anything.