How big is your tent?

Mikey set up his new tent last night; he wanted to practice before his first campout of the season this weekend. It’s a one/two man tent and measures 8’ by 9’. Once the tent was up, the little kids all wanted into it to play. The five of them could all fit in the tent, but it wasn’t long before I heard Mikey giving instructions, “Okay you two can be in the tent for five minutes and then switch and let the other two in for a while.” It didn’t take long before Mikey decided the tent wasn’t big enough for all of them to play in at the same time.

While Isaiah prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and the coming exile, he also saw God’s promised Messiah. God showed Isaiah that not only would he rescue His people from their captivity in Babylon, but He would also send a Savior to redeem them. This promised Messiah would restore God’s people once again.

• Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
  Isaiah 54:2 (NIV)

God wanted His people to have hope, to be certain that God would bring about a preferable future, one better than they could imagine. Isaiah prophesied that not only would they return to their homeland, but that they would also strip nations of their lands and inhabit their cities. Good things were on the way and they needed to make room for all that God had in store for them.

I have often said that faith is never passive; faith is always active. When we “wait upon the Lord” it doesn’t mean we sit and just twiddle our thumbs until God does something. Active faith anticipates what God will do; living faith will act upon the promptings of the Holy Spirit even when we don’t see or understand what God may be doing.

God told Israel to open wide their tents and get ready for more of His blessings. And don’t forget, God told them this even as they were about to go into exile and lose everything. Would they have faith to believe God even when everything happening around them seemed to contradict His promises?

And how about us, will we only believe what we see today, or will we believe God’s promises and act by faith even when it doesn’t make sense? Even if your tent is empty it isn’t big enough to contain all of God’s blessings. Enlarge your tent today with a certain hope of God preferable future.