“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.

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

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.” (Psalm‬ ‭24:1-2‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

Only two days ago I posted on Facebook how I am still paddling through an endless sea of paperwork. Between the estate and the Veteran’s Administration, my mailbox, desk and dining room table are continually flooded. This morning I read this in Dr. Wood’s book on the Psalms.

“He who formed the earth upon the waters is able also to create solid ground for your life where there has been none.”

What an encouraging word to wake up to!

I have had this mental image of a hurricane over the waters of my life, pretty much since those first few moments at Dad’s ICU bedside last May. The skies rolled in dark and I could hear the thunder cracking as Dad was bleeding and breaking and a sterile machine was breathing for him. I started paddling that Friday evening with all my might, the deluge of rain and wind was disorienting, but I was determined.

He died six days later and I gave up on paddling out of the storm. I was reduced to bailing buckets of water out of my dingy as the gale winds gathered force. I’ve spent nearly a year, now, bailing, my arms are finally lean and strong from all the work. I’m weathered by the long months at sea. I no longer hate the storm with every fiber of my being, instead I respect what it might produce, what I’ve already seen this pressure system carve out of me. I’ve stolen moments of rest when the rain lessens and I’ve learned how to brace myself again when it gains momentum.

All this time, in my mind, the storm could only conclude one of two ways; the breath of heaven might mercifully blow it away or I might eventually drift out from under it.

But Dr. Wood’s truth had never occurred to me; dry ground might grow beneath my boat as it did for Noah! It’s not impossible, God has grown the ground before! It’s in His nature to alter the landscaping to His liking and Kingdom benefit. The thought gains momentum; storms are never as strong over land as they are over water. The land He grows could break up the weather system altogether.

I close my eyes and I can see it, how He’s growing new ground beneath my boat. I can tell already, the terrain from here forward will be different. Not bad, just different. Maybe even good.

“God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis‬ ‭1:10‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

Lord, we trust that You are growing new ground beneath us. I believe that it is a ground that You have grown us for. I even have the audacity to believe that it will be a fertile ground because it is new from You. Amen.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?” (Psalm‬ ‭22:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

Sometimes we pray and we receive no resolve. Sometimes we pound the doors of heaven and all we hear is crickets. We have to stretch to trust God in those moments. We have pray like David did, with an eye on God’s past performance record.

David feels forgotten and forsaken. He feels far from God and his prayers are going unanswered. He doesn’t use this as an excuse to pull away from God, instead he chooses to remember that God is holy and has a perfect track record with His people.

“In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.” (Psalm‬ ‭22:4‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

While he’s down in the dumps, David recalls the stories of his ancestors and their encounters with God. He sees faithfulness in the pages of history. We don’t know which stories he’s referring to; if it was Jesse or Obed or Boaz’s personal experiences or perhaps as far back as the Exodus, but David looks back and grabs on to the sure handle of God’s character and His historic saving ability with His people. David’s wavering faith is shored up by the long-established truth of God’s relationship with His chosen people.

“To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.” (Psalm‬ ‭22:5‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

“Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.” (Psalm‬ ‭22:9-10‬ ‭NIV)

Next, David flips through the pages of his own life and finds God to be faithful, even to him. That’s when he begins to rally again.

“But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.” (Psalm‬ ‭22:19‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

Fairly quickly, David is convinced of God’s awareness of his situation and intent to intervene at just the right time.

“For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.” (Psalm‬ ‭22:24‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

We have to learn to do this when the seas of life are rough, when it feels like our prayers are made from mute mouths and God’s ear can’t quite be caught. We reach for past performance record; either personally (what has God done before in my life?) or historically (what has He done in the lives of others?) and let the legacy of His love and kindness fuel our hope for today.

“The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever!” (Psalm‬ ‭22:26‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

David eventually arrives at an eternal view of his earthly life, and hopefully, so will we. He decides that a bit of suffering today will pay off in the scope of forever, and that He can trust God’s judgement on what is worth suffering. I pray we come to that same conclusion.

Lastly, we notice that this is the psalm that Jesus reached for in His final hours on the cross. He only managed to speak the first nine words, but we can be certain that He finished the psalm in His heart; that He mentally rolodexed through the entirety of history between His Father and humanity (backwards and forwards) and came to the conclusion that God heard His prayer and would redeem His suffering, also.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” (Psalm‬ ‭46:1‬ ‭NIV‬‬)