space invader

You’ve had it happen to you: Someone gets so close you feel their breath on the tip of your nose. They’re so close the toe-ends of their shoes touch the toe-ends of yours. You take a step back and they step forward, as if it’s their job to be your personal shadow. Feeling uncomfortable yet? OK, that’s bad. Want to hear something that’s even more uncomfortable than having your physical space invaded?

I have a friend who invades my spiritual space. This friend is a Christian speaker and she’s incredibly good at what she does. Almost too good. There are times her words slide in just a little too close, so close I feel her breath against my soul. If I let my thoughts wander elsewhere, her thoughts—and sometimes her intense gaze—follow like my own shadow. It’s almost like she’s able to pry open my soul so that that truth shines a light into places that have grown a little too comfortable with darkness. If I’m smart, I’ll even nudge my soul a little closer so the truth can cast an even brighter glow. After all, I can always use a little extra light in dark places.

Not everybody has a friend like mine. She’s a rarity in many ways. But you don’t need to know her, or even someone like her, to have your spiritual space invaded. God is quite happy to invade your space every now and then. No, he’s not a forceful God. As C.S. Lewis tells us, God is a wooer, not a ravisher. But like my friend, God can get uncomfortably close sometimes. And his unrelenting up-close stare feels unbearable because it can be so doggone guilt-inducing. While we may try our best to stay out of God’s space, avoidance doesn’t work all that well. He has this uncanny ability to nudge up close even when we’re hiding in the shadows.

Maybe it’s best to slide on out of the shadows and stop pretending that we can somehow slip out of God’s presence. Perhaps it’s time to let his truth shine a light deep into our souls. After all, we can all use a little extra light in dark places, don’t you think?