“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” - Psalm 139:7 (ESV)

INFINITE ENVIRONMENT

“Truly we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139:14)." The human soul is a vast spiritual (nonphysical) landscape with resources and relationships that exceed human comprehension. It also exists within an infinite environment of which, at our best, we have little knowledge. We only know that God is over it all and that the soul, if it can only acknowledge its wounded condition, manifests amazing capacities for recovery when it finds its home in God and receives his grace.” - Dallas Willard

The catchphrase of the beloved children’s character Buzz Lightyear is “to infinity and beyond!” (Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story [Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures, 1995]). Yet as catchy and motivating as that phrase is, it is not our reality. For us humans, there is nothing outside of infinity. In Hearing God, Dallas said that we exist within an infinite environment as “unceasing spiritual being[s], created for an intimate and transforming friendship with the creative Community that is the Trinity” (Dallas Willard, Hearing God [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012]).

To be an unceasing being in an infinite universe may seem daunting or depressing to those far from God. There is nothing to define or determine their unending existence other than themselves. Only those who live in “transforming friendship” with God can have peace and security in this infinite environment.

Those who walk in friendship with God know He has created and formed them into being. They have faith in Him that He is who He says He is, and they know that wherever they are in this infinite, unceasing universe, they are not outside of His care or control. They know this universe is God’s and because He is good, it is a good and perfectly safe place to be.

REFLECTION

Consider this statement Dallas often asked his audience members to repeat after him: “I am an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe.” That’s who you are. Now consider any current areas of anxiety or trouble in your spirit. How do these fare in light of eternity?

PRAYER

Eternal God, unending and unfailing, You are in complete control. As I walk in communion with You, free me of the constant anxieties of this world and help me to trust Your guiding hand in Your great universe. Amen.

Thank you for allowing this devotional study to be part of your effort to become more Christlike. Dallas Willard Ministries offers these YouVersion plans and many other resources in the hope that they will help you better understand and step into the fullness of your life as "an unceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God's great universe." We invite you to visit us at www.dwillard.org/books/youversion-welcome and discover more free resources and study tools to help and encourage you as you seek to know God more.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
Proverbs 4:23