Where Have You Pitched Your Tent?

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“I'm glad from the inside out, ecstatic; I've pitched my tent in the land of hope” (Act 2:26, The Message).

The power of this scripture is best discovered in its poetry. Peter is quoting the Psalmist, who is talking about being buried in the grave. Shakespeare would call this a “grave situation.”

The “tent” the Psalmist refers to is his body. The tomb is viewed as “the land of hope.” What power there is in a faith that does not flinch at even death itself. Rather than fearing death to be the end of all things, the Psalmist sees it instead as the land of hope – the passage by which we enter greater Glory.

Peter uses the reference in his sermon to testify to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, but the fact is that the verse was written in faith centuries before the Crucifixion ever happened. And now, all these centuries later after the fact -- we too, because of Jesus, can “pitch our tents in the land of hope.”

In other words, even in the face of death we can have a prevailing hope of something yet better. This clearly signals to us that all other trivial troubles are also well covered within the claims of this staggering promise.

What difficulties are you now facing? What perils threaten to undo your peaceful world? What calamities taunt in this dark day?

Pitch your tent in the land of hope, my friend! For Jesus has risen from the dead. And if the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwell in you -- then He will also quicken your mortal body in even the most hopeless moment. If death itself is not the end, then these paltry attempts by the devil to thwart your faith and spoil your life will fall powerless to the ground.

Be glad! Yes, be ecstatic from the inside out -- for the Lord of Life is your dearest friend; and He holds you in the palm of His hand....even now.
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