LISTEN ONLINEWhen theologian Todd Billings received a diagnosis of incurable blood cancer, he described his imminent mortality as like lights in distant rooms turning off or flickering. “As the father of a one- and three-year-old, I tended to think of the next few decades as an open expanse, assuming I would see Neti and Nathaniel grow and mature. . . . But in being diagnosed . . . there is a narrowing that takes place.”
In thinking about these limitations, Billings reflected on Psalm 31, how God set David in “a spacious place” (v. 8). Although David spoke of being afflicted by his enemies, he knew that God was his refuge and place of safety (v. 2). Through this song, the psalmist voiced his trust in God: “My times are in your hands” (v. 15).
Billings follows David in placing his hope in God. Although this theologian, husband and father faces a narrowing in life, he agrees that he also lives in a spacious place. Why? Because God’s victory over death through Christ’s sacrifice means that we dwell in Christ, “the most spacious place imaginable.” As he explains, “What could be broader and more expansive than to share in His life by the Holy Spirit?”
We too may cry in lament, but we can take refuge in God, asking Him to lead us and guide us (vv. 1, 3). With David we can affirm that we live in a spacious place.