I used to work high school graduations, and if you have ever been around one, you already know graduation day can bring out some interesting behavior in people. I understand why. Your child graduating from high school is a special moment. For most families, it is a once-in-a-lifetime achievement. Everybody wants the good picture. Everybody wants the best view. Everybody wants to be close enough to see their graduate walk across that stage. But we had one rule that seemed to test people’s sanctification—and apparently mine too, although I was not saved at the time. Seats were first come, first served. You could not save seats.
Now, you would have thought we were asking people to surrender property that had been in their family for generations. Jackets in seats. Purses in seats. Programs spread across chairs. One person sitting on the end of a row guarding ten or twelve empty seats like they had personally been appointed head of graduation security. People were serious about saving space for their people.
At one graduation, I had a family trying to save almost an entire front row. A couple came along looking for somewhere to sit, and those seats were open, so I began explaining the rule. That did not go over too well. The gentleman became brash with me, and at some point I asked him his name. He puffed his chest out and said, “I’m Doctor such-and-such.” I honestly do not remember the man’s name anymore, but I remember that “Doctor.” Then his daughter looked at me with a look of absolute disgust and said, “Fat chance.”
Now, remember—I told you I was not saved yet. So Antoine before salvation briefly reported for duty. My whole demeanor changed. There may have been a few words spoken that will not be making an appearance in this devotional. I physically escorted that couple right into the middle of those empty seats, and I made it very clear to “Doctor” and his daughter that there was a fat chance they were going to move or harass those people without finding themselves outside of that graduation. Praise the Lord for growth.
I thought about that story recently after a conversation with my colleague Alishia. We were talking specifically about how the Heavenly Father makes space for us. And when I started thinking about that, those saved seats came back to my mind. At that graduation, those people were fighting over empty chairs because they wanted certain people near them. In their minds, those seats already belonged to somebody they loved. They were essentially saying, This space is for somebody I want close to me.
Now think about the Heavenly Father. He does not need anybody to save Him a seat. He does not need space. He created it.
Genesis 1:1 (NIV) tells us, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Before there was an earth for us to stand on, there was God. Before there were mountains, oceans, stars, calendars, clocks, mornings, evenings, birthdays, graduations, or saved seats, there was God.
Psalm 90:2 (NIV) says, “Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” The Heavenly Father is not limited the way we are. We experience life one second, one minute, one hour, and one day at a time. But He is eternal. He was God before everything we know existed, and He will still be God when everything we know has passed away.
And then 1 Kings 8:27 (NIV) gives us another picture of just how great He is: “The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you.” Think about that for a minute. We look into the sky and cannot even comprehend how far creation stretches, yet Scripture says even the heavens cannot contain the Heavenly Father.
This ain’t ordinary.
And yet this God—the God who cannot be contained by the heavens—made space for us. He created a world in which humanity could live. He created land. Water. Light. Life. He formed humanity and placed us within what He had made. Not because the Heavenly Father was missing something. Not because He was lonely. Not because God needed us to complete Him. He chose relationship with us.
That is what struck me during my conversation with Alishia. The Heavenly Father is greater than the space He created, yet He made space where we could be with Him. He is eternal, yet He gives us time in which we can know Him, worship Him, walk with Him, learn from Him, and experience His love.
Then the Heavenly Father brought me to Psalm 66:3 (NIV): “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you.”
We use the word awesome pretty loosely. That food was awesome. That movie was awesome. Those shoes are awesome. Somebody tells us we got a discount and suddenly we are talking about how awesome somebody is. But Psalm 66 is talking about something altogether different.
This is awe. This is wonder. This is recognizing that the Heavenly Father possesses a kind of power that belongs to Him alone. The same God who spoke creation into existence is the God who wants relationship with us.
That thought almost feels too big to hold. His power is awesome, but so is His desire to bring us near. His greatness is awesome, but so is His grace. His creation is awesome, but the fact that the Creator desires relationship with His creation? This ain’t ordinary.
And when you follow that thought through Scripture, it becomes even more beautiful because the story of God making space for us does not stop in Genesis. Sin damaged the relationship humanity was created to enjoy with God, but the Heavenly Father did not abandon His desire to bring us near. Through Lord Jesus, He made a way for us to be reconciled to Him.
And then, near the end of Lord Jesus’ earthly ministry, He tells His disciples something that takes this entire thought to another level. In John 14:2–3 (NIV), Lord Jesus tells them that His Father’s house has many rooms and says, “I am going there to prepare a place for you.” Then He promises that He will bring His followers to be with Him, “that you also may be where I am.”
Did you catch that?
In the beginning, He made a place for us. Through Lord Jesus, He made a way back to Him. And Lord Jesus says there is still a place prepared for us.
Whew.
The God who cannot be contained keeps making room for us to be near Him.
We spend so much of our lives wondering whether people have room for us. Do I belong here? Do they want me around? Am I accepted? Is there a place for me at this table? Sometimes life can make us feel like we are standing in the aisle looking for somewhere to sit while everybody else seems to have already saved the seats for somebody else.
But when it comes to the Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus has already answered the question. There is room. Not because we earned the seat. Not because of our title. Not because we puffed our chest out and announced who we were. Not because we were important enough to demand a place. There is room because He wanted us near Him.
That changes how I look at the Heavenly Father. Sometimes we become so familiar with talking about God that we forget Who we are talking about. We pray to Him. We sing about Him. We read about Him. We say His name so frequently that, if we are not careful, something extraordinary can begin to feel ordinary.
But there is nothing ordinary about Him. There is nothing ordinary about His power. There is nothing ordinary about His love. And there is certainly nothing ordinary about the God who made the heavens looking at people like you and me and saying, in essence, I want you with Me.
Psalm 66:3 tells us to look at His deeds and stand in awe. Maybe today we should. Look at creation. Look at His power. Look at His patience. Look at His grace. Look at Lord Jesus. And then consider the fact that the Heavenly Father has made room for us to be near Him.
At that graduation, people were willing to argue over seats because they wanted their people close. But the Heavenly Father did something infinitely greater. He made a world. He made a way. And He prepared a place. Because He wants His people near Him.
Now tell me that ain’t awesome.
Next Step
Reflect on how you have been viewing the Heavenly Father lately. Consider whether familiarity has caused you to lose some of your wonder at Who He is. Think about the truth that the God who created the heavens, who cannot be contained by them, still desires relationship with you.
Invite Lord Jesus to help you recover that sense of awe. Spend some quiet time simply thanking the Heavenly Father—not only for what He has given you or what you want Him to do, but for making a way for you to be near Him.
He made the space. He made the way. He is preparing the place.
This ain’t ordinary.
