For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, (II Chronicles 5:1,2 ESV)
Fear Not… Then Think About Home
Some friends and I were camping on the east coast. On the last night, after a pleasant week of board-walking, wild horse observing, and campfire sitting, a storm hit us. We were a few dozen yards from the Atlantic Ocean, and the wind and rain were relentless.
Our tent leaked both top and bottom. The wind rattled the poles and stretched the cords. Our flashlights ran out of power, yet the lightning made it seem almost like daytime.
But it was the last night. And that enabled us to endure. We knew that in the morning we would pack up and drive west… and come home.
A bit wet, a bit bedraggled, and a bit exhausted. But we would be home.
Paul knew storms, too. Hunger, persecution, unpopularity, sin’s effects and more. He was beaten for his faith, run out of town for his preaching, and mistrusted by both Jew and Greek.
Perhaps because he made tents for a living, he knew that tenting often involves suffering. And perhaps he had in mind that hope that travelers and campers experience when they discover or remember that soon they would be home.
Whatever storm is raging around your tent, think about your true home. Whatever structural damage is besetting your tent, think about your heavenly home. Whatever terrifying troubles prove your tent to be insignificant, remember your heavenly fortress.
Fear not, then think about home.