The Shape Of Him Is Still In The Chair

Nobody else can see it.

That is the thing about the chair. Anybody who comes into that room sees a chair. An old one, well used, with a blanket over the arm.

You see a hollow.

It is on the left side of the cushion where he sat, and the back is pushed out a little at shoulder height, and the whole thing holds a shape that is not there any more.

Four people sat in that room at Christmas and not one of them noticed. Somebody's grandson put a bag on it.

And you said nothing, and you did not want anybody to say anything either, and both of those are true at once and that is the strange part.

Here is what I want to name today, because I do not think anybody has named it for you.

There is a thing in your house that is enormous and invisible, and carrying something enormous that nobody else can see is a particular kind of lonely that has nothing to do with being alone in a room.

You have people. That is not the problem. The problem is that the hollow is real and is visible to exactly one person on earth.

He is near to the ones who are broken

There is a line in Psalm 34 that is not a promise about outcomes at all. It is a statement about position.

The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. (Psalm 34:18, King James Version)

Nigh. Near. That is a word about distance and nothing else.

He is not described as fixing anything in that clause. He is described as being close, and the closeness is attached specifically to the broken heart, which means the brokenness is the location rather than the obstacle.

You are the place He is described as being near to, and the brokenness has never once pushed Him further away. The Holy Spirit is the one present with a man looking at a hollow nobody else can see, and Psalm 34:18 attaches the nearness to the broken heart itself.

Now hold that against the loneliness of the invisible thing.

There is one person on earth who can see that hollow, and you have been assuming that. It is not one. There is somebody else in the room who sees it exactly as you do, who is described as being near precisely because of it, and who has not needed it explained.

You have never once been the only one who sees it, and the nearness has never once required you to describe anything. The written word puts Him close to the broken heart without asking for an account of it, and the Spirit of God is the one who is with a man who said nothing at Christmas and wanted nobody to say anything.

The two true things

Let me deal with the strange part, because it is worth saying out loud.

Nobody was wanted to mention it, and it hurt that nobody did. Both of those are true and they do not contradict each other, and that has probably been treated as a sign of being unreasonable.

If somebody had mentioned it, it would have been handled, and a handled thing becomes smaller. You wanted it not handled. And you also wanted it seen, and those are two different wants, and only one of them could be met by a person in that room.

You have two true wants and never a contradiction, and wanting both has never once made you unreasonable. The Holy Spirit is the one present with a man who has been calling himself difficult over Christmas, and Psalm 34:18 describes a nearness that sees without handling.

And notice that one of those wants is actually met.

Seen without handled. Near without being fixed. That is precisely the shape of what that verse describes, and it is the only source in your life that can do both at once.

You are seen without being handled, and that combination has never once been available from anybody in that room. The written word draws near to the broken heart and does not tidy it, and the Spirit of God is the one who steadies a man who could not have explained what he wanted.

One door, and the chair stays

So here is today, and the chair is not in it.

Open a door. The wardrobe, the drawer, the room he used. Open it, look, close it again.

You are opening one thing with nothing on the far side of it, and looking has never once committed you to anything. The Holy Spirit is the one who is with a man with his hand on a door in his own house, and Psalm 34:18 places the nearness and asks for nothing.

And one more thing about the chair, before you go.

Nobody has to see the hollow for it to be there. It is not less real for being invisible to the grandson who put a bag on it, and your seeing it is not a thing you have to defend or explain or eventually stop doing.

You are seeing something that is genuinely there, and its invisibility to others has never once made it less real. The written word puts God near the broken without requiring the brokenness to be visible to anybody else, and the Spirit of God is the one present with a man looking at the left side of a cushion.