Tents

Dear Boys and Girls,

The air mattress squeaked softly. Brayden held his breath and looked at his sleeping mom, dad, brothers, and sister. No one stirred. Outside the tent, he heard it again. Something was rustling around in the dry leaves. There was a soft thump near the picnic table. Brayden rose to his feet without making any more noise, padded quietly over to the window flap, slipped the zipper down farther, and peered out. Two small eyes glowed near the ground, and Brayden heard something munching busily.

“What do you see?” a voice whispered suddenly in Brayden’s ear. Dad crouched beside him, and he looked out of the tent window, too. “Here,” he whispered, pushing a flashlight into Brayden’s hands. “Try this.”

Click. The strong beam of light streamed through the tent window, and in a moment, it captured a surprised little animal sitting under the picnic table. Brayden could clearly see the furry masked face, and in the little paws he saw a plastic baggie.

Dad chuckled softly. “I didn’t think we left any food out. That raccoon found Mom’s vitamins though; he’s going to have a stomachache tomorrow!”

Brayden grinned. He loved camping. Whenever the tent was taken out of the closet, he and his brothers and sister always pitched in quickly. The sooner the car was packed, the sooner they could leave. Their house was their home, and their tent was their vacation!

Perhaps some of you use a tent for a vacation now and then. However, in the Bible we read many times of a tent being the home of a person or family. Think of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. They did not have a brick or wood house; they lived in tents. The entire nation of Israel lived in tents as they traveled through the wilderness; shepherds often had tents to dwell in, and armies—the Philistines, the Israelites, the Midianites, and so on—camped in tents.

People like Abraham and Isaac lived in tents so that they could move around from time to time. I wonder what they saw from their tent flap or door. Abraham was once sitting in the doorway of his tent. It was very hot. As he was sitting there, he saw some men. They were angels sent to give him a message. Perhaps when Isaac was sitting in the doorway of his tent, he sometimes saw Esau coming home from his hunting trips. The shepherds must have seen their flocks gathered beside their tents, and soldiers saw from their doorways the rows and rows of similar tents of the army they served in.

I wonder what the Israelites saw from the doorways of their tents. I am sure they saw the hot, sandy desert that stretched for miles and miles around. They saw their flocks, and they saw their children playing. At one time they saw the lack of water and at another, the impassible river ahead. However, they saw more. They saw some things which were meant especially for them—every morning when they opened their tent doors, they saw small white kernels lying on the ground. It was manna, food sent by God from heaven. They also saw a great pillar of a cloud above them; it stayed there, and as long as it did, the people did, too. If you had been an Israelite in the camp, looking out through the door of your tent, you would have seen, in the center, a very, very large “tent” called the Tabernacle. There, the sacrifices were made; there, the Lord dwelled, just as we call our churches the “house of God” today.

An Israelite, from his tent door, could see God’s mercies which were new every morning…

He saw the animals, resting quietly in the early morning light—there he saw the riches God sent along with them; God owns all the cattle and sheep— how rich God is.

He saw the manna which had rained down for them to gather—how faithful God was, each day, in providing for them.

He saw the pillar of the cloud—as he gazed at it, he would remember how until that very day, God had guided and helped them; how necessary God’s guidance is.

Children woke up, one by one, skipped out of their families’ tents, and began to play; they were the future of the nation—someday, they would live in the new land. How sure God’s promise is.

Lastly, his gaze would rest on the tabernacle, the house of God. There, he could see that God was with them; how precious is God’s presence and nearness.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen