Enlargement of Our Tents

UV 1671/10000 Enlargement of Our Tents
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

Isaiah 54 v 2


A tent is a temporary dwelling place for a traveller in the desert or the wilderness. The Israelites lived in tents for forty long years while they were sojourning through the deserts en route to Canaan. Our lives on this earth are like travellers who live in a tent. Our bodies are like tents that can be taken down and moved from place to place. But the Lord wants us to enlarge our tents, enlarge the circle of our influence and impact. The Lord resides with us as He did in the tabernacle of Israel. The tabernacle was a moving tent with elaborate curtains and elegant decorations. Similarly, He adorns us with elaborate embroidered curtains. He lengthen the cords that bind us to Him and strengthens it so that none can break it. His presence covers us like an impenetrable tent. The uni-verse reveals that the Lord enlarges, lengthens, strengthens us.

The English expression , “the stakes are high” implies that what we stand to loose or gain are high. Those who have that perspective take a gamble with their lives and stake everything on chance. Instead, we should believe that the stakes are driven deep. We should have the perspective of St Paul,” For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. “ In other words, he was saying that he was a tent or dwelling place for the risen Christ. His shelter and shield from the elements was Christ. A tent is held in place by stakes that are driven into the earth beyond its four corners. The four corners of our tents are love of God, love of Jesus, love of His Word and love of people. The four stakes at the four corners are love, faith, joy and hope. These four stakes should be driven deep into our hearts so that the Holy Spirit dwells with us. We should keep strengthening our stakes in the Lord so that nothing can shake or loosen it. When the weather turns inclement, the winds and storms of life cannot pull our tents off the stakes. We will stand firm entrenched in our relationship with the Lord.

Spiritual cords, emotional cords, intellectual and material cords connect the four stakes to the four corners of the canopy of our tents or our lives. The purpose of all the experiences, both the good ones and the tough ones are to lengthen and to strengthen the cords of our connections to the stakes. The Lord is the stakeholder of our lives and He invests into our lives, designing and decorating the different dimensions of our lives. We should tie our cords in strong knots to the Lord that no one can untie or cut. He will make our tents the tent of His rejoicing, the tent of His victory, the tent of safe dwelling.

Prateep V Philip