What is a season of Expansion?

The word ‘expansion’ can bring to mind a familiar scripture:

“Enlarge [expand] the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stages. For you will spread out to the right and to the left.” Isaiah 54:2-13 NIV with emphasis added.

This verse is often used to challenge Christians to have bigger, bolder dreams! It’s meant to be a simple call: create more floor space in your tents. But why is this relevant? The Hebrew word for enlarge, which appears 25 times in the Old Testament, is Rachab: to be or grow wide or large. In Genesis 26:22, Isaac experienced God’s favour and provision in a new place.

“Isaac named the place Rehoboth (which means “open space”), for he said, “At last the LORD has created enough space [Rachab] for us to prosper in this land.” (Genesis 26:22).

Rachab/enlarge/expansion isn’t a focus on making something bigger, but making room for something new to emerge, preparing for something yet to come, something only God can see. Jesus told His disciples that He would prepare a place for them (John 14.3). Jesus was making and preparing a room for each one He called to dwell with Him in eternity. He was making space… so He could fill it. God is always looking for the lost and trying to bring them home, always preparing another bedroom in His house before He brings someone home to fill it.

Making space doesn’t always mean adding an extension. Sometimes it looks like clearing out a room in your house or a space in your heart or schedule that you haven’t been using wisely and getting it ready to allow people in (or to be used for what God plans to do next). And the miracle is that when God asks us to make room and we obey, He always does something good next.