Sacred Spaces in Hollow Places
Hollow | hol·low | adjective
Having a hole or empty space inside
Without significance
I think we’ve all felt it, if even for a moment, a hollowness that hits perhaps following a loss or a disappointment. It can be an emptiness where the ache in your soul cries out and echos back, seemingly making that hollowness even deeper. We can see such feelings depicted in the Psalms.
King David, who wrote many of the Psalms, was no stranger to the hollow places both figurative and literal. When Samuel was sent to the house of Jesse to anoint one of his sons as King, David was left to the fields tending the sheep, and Samuel had to ask if there were more sons only after David’s brothers were presented and subsequently rejected (1 Samuel 16). David wasn’t even thought of, but then God did not overlook him, but chose him and David was anointed by Samuel in the presence of his brothers. From this time until David took the throne would be between ten and fifteen years.
How often through David’s life would the circumstances he faced make that promise appear hollow? Reading the Psalms, we can see David process through some of the emotions of these circumstances. But a theme I see through David’s life and through the Psalms, is how David took those hollow places and made them sacred spaces.
Sacred | sa·cred ˈsā-krəd | adjective
Dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity
Devoted exclusively to one service or use
It is in 1 Samuel 24 we read of David being on the run with his men, and Saul is after them. David and his Men are hiding in a cave (a hollow place) in En Gedi. Saul goes into the cave not knowing of David and his men hiding deep within it. The opportunity arises for David to end this chase, but he spares Saul’s life.
“Now it happened, when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, “Take note! David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats. 3 So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to attend to his needs. (David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.) 4 Then the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’ ” And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 5 Now it happened afterward that David’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe. 6 And he said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.” 7 So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.
8 David also arose afterward, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed down. 9 And David said to Saul: “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Indeed David seeks your harm’? 10 Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you, and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ 11 Moreover, my father, see! Yes, see the corner of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the corner of your robe, and did not kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you. Yet you hunt my life to take it.” 1 Samuel 24:1-11
From this hollow place, David recognizes God as his refuge, his deliverer, and David does not take matters into his own hands. He takes that hollow place and turns it into a sacred space. There are many Psalms that could speak to this theme, but two that I want to highlight. Psalm 57 is likely written when David was on the run from Saul and hiding in the cave. Psalm 142 is believed to have been written either in En Gedi as referenced above in 1 Samuel 24, or in the cave in Adullam.
Either way, both Psalms exemplify taking those hollow places in ourselves, the disappointment, the hurt, and filling that space with declarations and recognition of who God is - a refuge, a faithful, merciful and loving God who will fulfill His purpose for you. The hollow place can become a sacred space when you recognize and thank God for who he is.
I encourage you to read Psalm 57 and 142 this week and invite God to change those hollow places into sacred spaces.