By Robert Halsey Pine
“O LORD, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill? Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart; who do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their neighbors…” (Psalm 15 NRSV).
Have you tried to get into God’s tent lately? I’ve been outside on the dirt and exposed to the winds myself. Think about it. Do you dare stick your head in and ask God if you can enter? When we push ourselves to the question, we see how weak we are in the Lord.
I patronize the Lord in one breath and run down my brothers and sisters in another. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” Our laziness in the Spirit causes us to take the easy path of the devil.
We say that we will put our tent beside the Lord’s tent, but there we find loose rocks and drainage ruts. Our tent is washed away in the storm. The Lord has placed His tent on the highest ground and anchored in the rocky crevices with spikes.
The mountaintop is a place of extreme exposure. There is wind and cold, and rain and barrenness. Humans do not build tents on mountaintops. Only the Lord can place a tent in this extreme.
Only those who walk blamelessly, do what is right, speak the truth from their hearts, guard their tongues and love their neighbor may enter the Lord’s tent on His holy hill.
Robert Halsey Pine was born at Newark, Ohio in 1943. He is a graduate of Northeastern University and completed the program of Theological Education by Extension: Education for Ministry, School of Theology, the University of the South.