Camping Out With God

Let me live forever in your sanctuary, safe beneath the shelter of your wings!

Psalm 61:4

I'm writing this reflection in the middle of the summer in the United States. In this season, thousands of people are camping out, cooking on an open grill, enjoying the fresh scent of pine forests, swatting mosquitoes, and experiencing all the other delights of the great outdoors. You may be one of those aficionados for whom camping represents the ultimate getaway. Or, you may be someone who prefers to "camp" in the comfy bed of a four-star hotel. But, no matter your preference for actual camping, how would you like to camp out with God?

The New Living Translation of Psalm 61:4 rightly captures the sense of the Hebrew: "Let me live forever in your sanctuary." A more literal translation would read, "Let me dwell in your tent forever." God's tent, ahal in Hebrew, is the place we usually call the tabernacle. When David wishes to live in God's tent, he's not envisioning a literal campout, however. Rather, the tabernacle was the place of God's special presence. To live in this tent would be to live in God's presence, to be close to God both now and forever.

You and I have the opportunity to camp out with God, in a way. We have been invited into God's special tent. But in our case, the tent of God is not Israel's tabernacle. In John 1:14, we read that the Word of God "became human and made his home among us." The original Greek of this verse actually says that the Word "became flesh and pitched his tent among us." (The verb "made his home" in Greek is skenoo, from the Greek word for "tent," skene.) Whereas, God once "camped out" among his people in the tabernacle, now God has "camped out" among us in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

Thus, when we read Psalm 61:4 and pray, "Let me live forever in your sanctuary," we're not asking to live in God's presence in a general way. We're not thinking of God as some kind of nebulous force or higher power. Rather, we're reminded that we live in God's presence through Jesus Christ. When we put our faith in him, when we live each day in communion with his Spirit, then, in a very real but metaphorical sense, we are camping out with God. And there aren't even any mosquitoes.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: When you think of dwelling in God's presence, what comes to mind? What locations or experiences or feelings or ideas or people? What might you do today that would help you to live consciously and intentionally in God's presence?

PRAYER: Thank you, gracious God, for the privilege of "camping out" with you. Thank you for making yourself available through the "tent" of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. Thank you for revealing yourself to us through Christ. Thank you most of all for opening a way for us to come to you, through the flesh of Christ (Heb. 10:20).

May I dwell with you today, Lord, in every moment. May I be continually attentive to you, offering myself to you in all things. Amen.

Image courtesy of Laity Lodge Family Camp, one of our sister programs in the Foundations for Laity Renewal.