# Spaciousness Day 3 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *Teach me, God to make room for you in all the events and affairs of my days. Then I shall find rest. Then I will be at peace with myself and with you. (Norman Shawchuck in A Guide To Prayer for All Who Seek God)* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 18:25-36 *25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; 26 with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. 27 For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. 28 For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness.* *29 For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. 30 This God—his way is perfect;[a] the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. 31 For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?— 32 the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless.* *33 He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. 34 He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 35 You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great. 36 You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip.* #### Scripture for the Day: Genesis 26:12-22 *12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”* *17 So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them. 19 But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek,[a] because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah.[b] 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth,[c] saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land."* #### Reading for Reflection: *It is an addiction of the first order that we feel we must always be filling up our spaces. It goes along with our addictions to work, to productivity, to efficiency. Sometimes, though, we do not like spaciousness because of what appears to us within it. (The Awakened Heart by Gerald G. May)* *By participating in Christian disciplines, we live out our desire and intention to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. As we do so, we are encouraged, instructed, loved, renewed, and beckoned to God and godly living.* *While it is true that God is in every when and where and that many other things besides disciplines contribute to our deepening relationship with God, we discover that it makes a meaningful difference in everyday life when we set aside time, space, and ourselves to be more fully present with and attentive and responsive to God. The benefit we seek and desire most is deepening companionship with God. We come away from other pursuits to listen for the still, small voice that is our best friend, our beloved Savior, the Holy One, our Creator, God. (Holy Invitations by Jeannette A. Bakke)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: How Deep the Father’s Love for Us *How deep the Father's love for us* *How vast beyond all measure* *That He would give His only Son* *To make a wretch His treasure* *How great the pain of searing loss* *The Father turns His face away* *As wounds which mar the chosen One* *Bring many sons to glory* *Behold the Man upon a cross* *My guilt upon His shoulders* *Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice* *Call out among the scoffers* *It was my sin that held Him there* *Until it was accomplished* *His dying breath has brought me life* *I know that it is finished* *I will not boast in anything* *No gifts, no power, no wisdom* *But I will boast in Jesus Christ* *His death and resurrection* *Why should I gain from His reward?* *I cannot give an answer* *But this I know with all my heart* *His wounds have paid my ransom* ### Closing Prayer: *O Lord, the house of my soul is too small for you to enter: make it more spacious by your coming.*