God's Safe Space

“And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.” (Isa 4:6 AV)

There’s much ado about ‘safe spaces’ today.  People want a place to go where they can be accepted for who and what they are without fear of judgment or opinion.  A place where only those of like mind can assemble.  A place where there is no dissenting opinion.  A place where they are the most important person and all must conform to make them feel comfortable.  The only true safe space is in the presence of God.  Yet, it is not quite the same.

Life has problems.  Life has challenges.  Life brings with it contrariness that makes us uncomfortable, but at the same time, it matures us.  These dissenting opinion, and even yes, persecution is needful in the sense that it makes us stronger.  The safe space provided by God is His tabernacle.  It is any place wherein the Spirit of God meets with the souls of men.  In the Old Testament, it was the tabernacle and then the temple.  But in the New Testament, the tabernacle is the human heart, for that is where the Holy Spirit dwells with those who have repented and believed on Christ.  The tabernacle is the house of God wherein the LORD meets with His people.  What the tabernacle is not is a place of no change.  The tabernacle is not a safe space that is free from confrontation.  God’s safe space is not a place where we feel that no challenge will come our way and we can remain exactly like we are.  That is the contemporary idea of the house of God.  God’s safe space is where we meet with God.  He comforts as well as challenges.  He asks us to come apart from the world and the devil so that we can feel safe in the arms of God.  What God does not do is give us a place where no change takes place.  His safe space is not a perpetual state of immaturity.  His safe space is safe from the devil and world.  But the flesh needs tending to.  These safe spaces are a treasure.  A place where God is real and we are fed.  A place where the Holy Spirit of God speaks clearly and distinctly.  A place where the devil is not welcomed and the world is warned.  A place which only the people of God can enjoy.

At a time when the people of God are confronted more than ever by those who wish to destroy them, it amazes me how much we don’t flee to our safe space.  It amazes me how comfortable we have become in the devil’s world and seek not the protective and ever-growing place of the tabernacle of God.