Psalm 84:1-2
“How lovely is Your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”
When our children were little and even into their teen years, camping was a big part of our lives. We spent many of our summer vacations in a tent pitched along a river. Even before we left the comforts of home, the girls would get all excited about the idea of sleeping outside in a tent. There’s something about tent camping that’s extra special: togetherness! There’s a sense of being a “team” as you work to make camp and in all the other things you must do. We all would help put the tent up and try our hand at cooking.
Something unique is experienced when camping. It is an opportunity to be away from the daily distractions of city living. You know those things that pressure us from having enough time to enjoy a sunset or a rainbow. When you get away and get simple, the things of God and His beautiful creation begin to stand out.
All good camping trips must someday come to an end, but the Lord has even more in store for those of us who have put our trust in Him. A day is coming when He will call us into His heavenly home. All that we’ve known will be wonderfully changed. It will be like going from a rustic campground to the Ritz.
Let’s face it, camping’s fun for a few days, maybe even a week or two. But after a while, our bodies begin to complain. I know when it’s time to pack it up and head home when my body begins to smell like the tent I’m living in. I see my physical body a lot like a tent. Life was fun and easy when my body was young and new. Nothing seemed to bother it much; it seemed to take care of itself. But as time passes, things change. This earthly body, my tent, is getting worn here and there and the whole thing just doesn’t feel as comfortable to be in as it did in those earlier days.
Yes, I agree with the psalmist because my soul also longs for the courts of the Lord. It’s great to think that a day is coming when we who believe in Him shall enter into His presence and His glorious heavenly home forever. It will be a day like no other. For my body (and yours), it will be the ultimate home improvement!
– Pastor Jack
