Feast of Shelters

Posted on Mar 1, 2018 by Anna Thoreson in Devotions |

 
 

“For seven days you must live outside in little shelters. All native-born Israelites must live in shelters. This will remind each new generation of Israelites that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭23:42-43‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

Wow. One week a year the entire nation of Israel moved outside. Picture a country-wide camping trip. Imagine little makeshift shelters or booths cropping up in front of every family home and every soul, young and old, spending a full week eating and sleeping in the fresh air. They spent that week remembering the miracles that sustained their ancestors, remembering the miracles that made way for the life they presently enjoyed.

The Feast of Shelters:

– Kept them together. Family and country participated in this annual, national pastime.
– Kept them humble. Nothing humbles us quite like camping.
– Kept them dependent. The entire nation sleeping outdoors for a week made them quite vulnerable as a country.
– Kept them as sojourners. Surely sleeping in a tent for a week straight served as a spiritual reminder that they weren’t home just yet.
– Kept them convinced that God alone was their true shelter. Outdoor camping untethered the Israelites from their wealth and possessions and position. Feast of Shelters leveled the playing field socially, everyone slept outside as they trusted God together.

The Feast of Shelters serves as an annual, physical reminder of our daily, hourly dependence on God and His absolute trustworthiness. It was also recorded as the most joyous celebration of the entire calendar year.
 
It occurred to me that God dwelt with His people in a makeshift shelter (the tent of Tabernacle) and then He called His people to spend one week a year in a makeshift shelter (the Feast of Shelters) . And then, in the book of Acts, He makes our very hearts His shelter.

So the question is, when are we going camping next? 🙂

“This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.” (Psalms‬ ‭91:2‬ ‭NLT‬‬)
 
Lord, we acknowledge our complete dependance on You. We see how You led and protected our ancestors in the faith, we can trust that You will lead and protect us, also. May we move outside mentally today. May we remember to live connected, humble, defendant and convinced, as sojourners along the earth until You call us home. Amen.