Hello, my name is Jennifer, and I’m a bird watcher. I saw a post recently that talked about reaching a certain season of life, over fifty, when you become more interested in birds. Well, I am closer to 60 than 50 and I do enjoy bird watching. I am currently writing this while on my porch, listening to and watching the birds gathering around my feeders.
In the Scriptures, we see birds mentioned in many ways to illustrate God’s care, provision, and also as symbols of freedom, deliverance and the Holy Spirit. One of the things that I have thought about as I have watched them is the spacious life that they live. They are not restricted by the things of this world. They live free and in the spaciousness of creation relying on the Lord (and the faithful bird watchers) to feed them.
When Jesus came on the scene He was turning everything right-side up. He brought a new way of living and thinking that was not what the people were expecting. It was and is the way that God originally intended life to be. We often think that world for us as followers of Jesus is restricted, but it’s actually the opposite. The “right-side up” way of Jesus is flowing, open, breathing, free, and spacious.
Our women’s group recently finished a Bible study on the Sermon on the Mount and it has worked its way into my heart deeper than ever before. It says in Matthew 7:13-14 (ESV), “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Matthew 16:25 (NLT), Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?”
The Hebrew word for spacious is ravach, which means, “wide open space,” “to breathe freely,” “to be refreshed,” or “full of compassion.” It implies a spaciousness, an ease, or freedom. This is the life offered to us -the narrow and hard way. The “right-side up” way of Jesus. The life that says He must increase and I must decrease. The surrendered life day by day.
Psalm 18:19 “He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.
John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Jesus rescues us and brings us out of our old life to bring us into a new life. He offers us a spacious life through the narrow gate, because He delights in us. It will be a hard and holy journey with the Holy Spirit as your guide and companion along the way. We can trust in His care, His unfailing love, and new mercies every morning. We, like the birds, can rely on Him for our provision and because of Jesus we can have life and have it abundantly and spaciously.