A Blessed Tent

The house of the wicked will be overthrown,

but the tent of the upright will flourish.

Proverbs 14:11

Who is more blessed? Is it the one who is settled in a house all his own, with all of his furnishings and possessions and treasures under a solid roof? Or is it the sojourner in the portable tent? We live in a church culture that continues to insist that wealth and worldly success are the marks of true righteousness, that obtaining power, possessions and popularity are signs of God's favor and blessing upon a life. And many times, our pursuit of God has more to do with what we can get out of the relationship rather than how we can grow.

Abraham was a man of God who dwelt in tents, with Isaac and Jacob his descendants. He was rich by this world's standards, but he had no house to call home. He was called to follow God wherever God led him, which meant his humble abode needed to be mobile out of necessity. In a moment's notice, it could be taken down, rolled up, and packed on a camel's back for a journey to God-knew-where. A house all his own might have kept him from being that obedient, that willing to break camp and move whenever God wanted him to. A house all his own might have offered so much comfort that the inconvenience of a transient lifestyle might have made him stay put.

Abraham never had a home on this terrestrial sphere, and he never owned a piece of ground except a burial plot. But the Bible said he understood he was just a pilgrim in this world of sin, someone who was passing through to a far better country. With eyes of faith he looked beyond what man could build to that city which has foundation, whose builder and maker was God. Having received the promise of an earthly inheritance, He kept his eyes on the skies, the true prize of the righteous...not a home built of wood and stone, but a mansion of glory in the presence of God.

And consider those who had houses while Abraham dwelt in tents. The five cities of the plain were consumed by God's fire for their sins, and Lot lost all he had in the conflagration. Two generations later, the city of Shechem was put to the sword and burned by Abraham's grandsons. Four generations after that, Joshua led the people of Israel in conquest, taking over those cities that had been built by the godless. Houses don't make you safe, and cities don't make you secure. It is rather the relationship with God that grants you safety and security.

I'd rather be blessed in this tent as a faithful man of God, than die in spiritual squalor in a house all my own.