or even a simple rain fly.
Depending on the purpose and the materials at hand, there are numerous possibilities for the tentdweller. Some tents feel as secure as a building, including lighting, tables and chairs, buffet lines, bars, and dance floors. Others are little more than a shade cloth, offering only minimal protection from the elements.
What is true about all tents, though, is that they are temporary dwellings. They can be moved from one location to another. When collapsed they are a fraction of their expanded size. Sometimes you have to practice how to construct them, but once you get the knack, you can the tent's protection quickly, almost instinctively.
I love the thought of dwelling the tent of the Lord. The psalmist did, too!
Wherever I am, whatever my situation, I can enter the sheltering presence of God's love. It can be as vast as the largest big top, as humble as the smallest pup tent.
It offers immediate relief from the torrent of human suffering. There is no terrain, physical or emotional, where God's tent cannot be established. In the tent of God's Gracious love I am in certain safety. Something mysterious occurs in that place, and all of my fears and weaknesses are reconfigured in new ways that are certain and strong, refreshed and renewed.
At any given moment you can enter God's Tent. That's the marvellous thing -- God seeks you as you wander about, ready to surround you with all that you most need to survive. In fact, in His presence, your soul will thrive!
What other response can there be but to lift the voice in praise and thanksgiving?
2 comments:
To take the Greek literally, God "tents" with us...God abides or dwells with us. God's presence is our rock, our safety and security.
A tent is indeed temporary, portable, moveable. We are to be, also. Jesus Himself could not stay on the mountain; He had to come down and pursue the will of His Father. And, even in Matthew, where the only word we hear from the cross is a word of agony and seeming abandonment, the testimony comes from, of all people, a Roman centurion, who says, "Indeed, this man was God's Son."
A beautiful song has wafted across the border from French Canada and found its way into our newest Lutheran hymnal (#808). The metaphor is different, but the sense of presence is the same:
Lord Jesus, you shall be my song as I journey;
I'll tell ev'rybody about you wherever I go;
you alone are our life and our peace and our love.
Lord Jesus, you shall be my song as I journey.
Lord Jesus, I'll praise you as long as I journey.
May all of my joy be a faithful reflection of you.
May the earth and the sea nd the sky join my song.
Lord Jesus, I'll praise you as long as I journey.
As long as I live, Jesus, make me your servant,
to carry your cross and to share all your burdens and tears.
For you saved me by giving your body and blood.
As long as Ilive, Jesus, make me your servant.
I fear in the dark and the doubt of my journey;
but courage will come with the sound of your steps by my side.
And with all of the fam'ly yousaved by your love,
we'll sing to your dawn at the end of your journey.
I love the tent of God! Such shelter from the storm- I can even hide in there! :)
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