No Room For God?

In all his thoughts there is no room for God (Psalm 10:4), is a verse that has been ringing in my ears since I read it recently while preparing to preach. I find the notion of not having room for God in my thinking alarming. If we don’t think right we won’t live right! Our actions always reflect the way we think which is why we are told to not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:1). I recognise that this is an ongoing process but often it is more like a battle. Yes, Jesus won the victory for me on the cross but I must persevere to gain my personal victory in my thinking, to overcome and to conquer. I have a responsibility to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) not to allow it to grow, develop and even grow legs because eventually it will come out in something I say or in something I do. We can’t keep it hidden, people recognise what is living in our hearts because they see how we speak and how we live.

If I can learn to think right then I am released into a whole new realm as a Christian. God says He can do more than I can imagine (Ephesians 3:20). There are no limits for a Godly-thinking Christian. So why did I feel so disturbed? Because I realise I could become so caught up with my own ideas, thoughts and agendas that there is no room left for God. No room for God to fill me with His thoughts, to engage me in His ideas or lead me into His dreams and plans for my life. I must be determined to create and give space to God in my thoughts, to offer a blank canvas on which He can write, without reference to my opinions, agenda or the limitations in my experience or knowledge. What about you?

In response to this verse and to the many things God has been saying during our Month of Prayer I believe God is encouraging us to continue to listen to Him this year. God hasn’t finished, He has more to say if we will give Him room to speak. We must continue to humble ourselves, create the space and invite God to fill us with His thoughts and plans. This is the purpose of having our minds transformed so we can test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2). God has plans for us individually and collectively this year. God has only just begun to speak; He wants to unfold the detail and teach us to identify and confidently walk in His will.

One morning as we prayed, I considered what God’s ‘good, pleasing and perfect will’ meant and discovered that God’s will is always useful (good), acceptable (pleasing) and mature (perfect) to Him. That sounds exciting to me. God has given us all a desire to be significant and God tells me that what I do is useful, not just a job to keep me out of trouble but helps Him. God has given us all a desire to be accepted and God says that what I do is acceptable to Him, it is good enough, I don’t need to do any more or do it any better. God has given us a desire to be all that we can be and God sees what I do not as a baby step, but as a significant stride in the right direction, a thought-through and planned contribution to His Kingdom.

What space have you got in your thinking? Are we so consumed with the essential, the immediate or the mundane that there is no spare capacity for God thoughts? Let us continue to carve out space to listen, think and imagine. Let us not continue always to bombard our minds with television, music or e-mails. Let us not be frightened of silence but seize it and value it as a space that only God can fill.