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| Photo courtesy of go-camping.org |
But there are some phrases in the Scriptures that are just so impregnated with profound truth that I.can.scarcely.read.on.
And Genesis 26:25 is like that for me right now...
"So he [Isaac] built an alter there
and called upon the name of the Lord
and pitched his tent there."
Okay, I know what you are thinking...this is not a Bible verse that you will find on a bumper sticker of a car. I mean, what gives?
But I have just reveled in the truth of this verse this week.
You see, it contains a very profound truth that we must consider for our own hearts and lives, and for those of our friends, children, and loved ones.
Isaac called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there.
He stayed.
He hammered in those stakes and stood his ground.
He literally "tabernacled" with God.
How often do we call upon the name of the Lord...and then just keep on walking?
How often do we cry out in a time of need or crisis and then when things get a bit better, and we feel like we can handle life on our own, we move on? Our guard goes down and we find ourselves bobbing along with the flow of the social tides of the day.
I have experienced it in seasons of my own life.
And I have watched it in the lives of some pretty dear friends of mine.
And it grieves my heart.
But in recent years, by the grace of God, I have resolved to stand firm and faithfully pray that my family and I remain rooted and established in the Truth of Christ, fully reliant on what God says about life and living and about who we are as His beloved ones, and I've learned that I must drive my stakes in the ground.
Because I want to pitch my tent right here, in this place where He is. And I never want to move. To abide with Him, like Christ teaches us in John 15. To have His Words abide in my heart. To remain in Him. To dwell with Him. To fellowship with Him. To live for Him.
And how can we do this?
It is all because He did it first. We see it in the Old Testament, when a holy God literally fills the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle tent. And we see it in the New Testament with Jesus, the Word became flesh, who came and "dwelt among us", according to John 1:14.
And what does this verse literally say in the Greek? Jesus "tabernacled with us."
He pitched His tent.
He stayed His ground, giving up the riches of heaven and taking on the form of a bondservant to pay for our sins (Phil 2:7-8).
And He stayed put on that cross, amongst the jeers and mockings that taunted Him to come down and thus prove Himself to be the Christ (Matt 27:41-42).
He tabernacled with us, so we could tabernacle with Him.
And that just makes my heart sing as I drive my stakes into the ground this week and just enjoy Him.
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