The Holiday season is upon us. I am sure that this reality causes many different responses. These can range from feelings of stress over everything that needs to be done to excitement for the special times, special food, and special events with friends and family. No matter where this holiday finds you emotionally, it is a great time to step back and thank the Lord for his blessings to you.
I am continually reminded of God’s blessing during difficult times in my life. There are moments that I have frequently missed God’s hand in my situation because I was not looking. The truth is my focus was zeroed in on the immediate challenge and not on what God was doing!
The writer of Hebrews provides a valuable insight regarding our need to keep our focus on what the Lord is doing in our lives. “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:8–10).
While teaching this section on faith to our teens, I was struck by the significance of Abram’s decision to follow the Lord. What I think stands out to most of us is his obedience to go without knowing the destination, “And he went out, not knowing where he was going.” Can you imagine packing the SUV, a tank of gas, and a few bucks in the wallet and just starting to drive? There is something in all of us, from the youngest to the oldest, that wants to know where we are going. “Are we there yet?” This same handicap also correlates to our life following our Lord. He asks us to trust Him with out playing His hand on what is around the corner.
What stood out to me while teaching was the reality of the all the personal sacrifices Abram made in obedience to the Lord. For instance, I had never made the connection of the present reality of “living in tents with Isaac and Jacob” in contrast with his desire to find “the city that has foundations”. It is a big step from living in a building to living in a tent. The tent also speaks of a nomadic life. Now I do not want to overstate this, but I more fully understand this desire to live in a permanent structure in a city of God’s. There is a big difference between living the transitory life in a tent compared to living in something with a foundation!
It seems as if the narrative of Abram’s walk of faith in God reminds us of the transitory nature of our journey here one earth. It is interesting that Jesus reminded his disciples of what was coming at the Last Supper, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2). The Apostle Paul reminded the economically challenged and persecuted believers in Philippi, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” (Philippians 3:20–21). Paul also reminded the Corinthians to stay focused on what we have to look forward to, “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.”(2 Corinthians 5:1).
Let me encourage you these Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays to give thanks to God for what He has been doing and will continue to do in you. Let us be thankful that wherever we are this Thanksgiving season, good or bad, we are in God’s hand. Let us be “Thankful for the Tents” because we are “looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God!”
-Pastor Joe Parkinson