There are varying levels of camping, ranging from primitive to very luxurious. In her personal diary, newlywed Susan Shelby Magoffin writes a tale of traveling across the United States in the mid-1800s in a wagon. Each night, a tent was set up with a bed on a frame, outfitted with full linens. The method of travel was primitive, but the nightly accommodations were luxurious.
The best camping experiences are those in beautiful surroundings. In the travel series Departures, the hosts spend one Christmas camped in the snow-capped mountains of New Zealand. It’s just them, one cameraman, and what they could carry in their backpacks. They claimed it was the best camping experience imaginable.
How do we find God’s country in our spiritual experience? Is it in our surroundings, or is it in what we make of our surroundings?
Genesis 31:25 tells us:
“And Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban with his kinsmen pitched tents in the hill country of Gilead.”
Jacob was fleeing from his father-in-law, Laban. Jacob thought he was out of danger when he reached the hill country. He hadn’t yet reached God’s country, and he was forced to make a covenant with the man who pursued him.
Jude 1:6 tells us:
“And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day―”
The angels abided in God’s country, and yet, because of choosing to step outside the boundaries of God’s laws, they were cast aside. To abide in God’s country, we have to keep a right heart, one that leans unto him.
1 John 4:15 tells us:
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”
Now we have reached God’s country. Our bed will be unpacked each night, and we will reside in luxurious comfort. We will step outside each morning to the glory of snow-capped mountains.
It will be the best camping experience we’ve ever known.
When we reside with our Father, we will rest comfortably in his loving arms.
Copyright © 2016 MyChurchNotes.net
Originally Published 1-16-15 in Hope