| “From Judah will come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg.” |
| —Zechariah 10:4 |
The nation of Israel certainly knew about tent pegs. In their forty years of wandering the desert, and until the “permanent” temple in Jerusalem was built, they worshipped in a large tent or tabernacle, which from time to time they had to pick up and move to a different location in the desert.
In the Book of Exodus, we read that these tent pegs were crafted of bronze. They were mentioned throughout that Book and into the Book of Numbers. These tent pegs had a significant purpose in maintaining the stability of the tabernacle.
We all have our “tent pegs.” Our “tent pegs” consist of those things we have crafted, or more likely received as a gift of God’s grace, that help us feel stable in the unfolding of our daily lives.
As a child, I felt secure because I had loving Christian parents and large Christian extended family. I lived in the same house until I left for college. I went to the same church, to the same school, and so forth, all through those years.
As an adult, I may not think I rely so heavily anymore on “earthly” tent pegs, but I guess that I do. I get stability from my home, my husband, my family, my church, my friends, and from even more.
Furthermore, each of us has likely suffered loss of something we have relied upon as a “tent peg.” The circumstances of our lives have caused us to lose something or someone we held dear that provided stability in our lives.
Even as God did with the Israelites, He sometimes asks us to pull up our tent pegs because He has a new venture for us. We may be thrust into a new situation that feels so different and unstable to us. Yet, God wants to show us that He is the unchangeable “tent peg” of our lives—the One on whom we need to rely. He provides the rock-solid stability upon which we need to depend.
Though the Psalmist used somewhat different images, in Psalm 46:1-7 we read the similar sentiment:
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Whether we want to think of God as a refuge and a fortress in the storm when everything falls around us, or the stable “tent peg” who keeps the tent of our lives upright and stable, we do our best when we consciously and consistently rely on Him, rather than on any earthly tent pegs, of which we tend to expect too much.
