I truly feel as if our camping has not yet ended, as if something fundamental has shifted in our lives; our church life will not and cannot be the same. I am thankful that the Lord paved a very specific time for us—including enjoyments and struggles, corporate and by household, sleeping and not sleeping, warm and freezing cold—to be enlarged and broadened to see the meaning and purpose of our sojourning on the earth today.
We talked on Lord’s Day about our spiritual memory—about what is remembered in our genealogy, what is recorded on the line of life. Many moments pass us by in our daily life, most forgotten by the end of the day. But the Lord pulled us out of our routines at this time to make a landmark in our life individually and corporately—to give us a memorial in our spiritual history so that we can move forward according to the Lord’s desire. We remember Him, and recall how He led us through the wilderness, how He fed us manna and satisfied us with Himself. We cannot forget. The commandment is so that we may live and multiply, enter and possess. To live not unto death, but unto multiplication. To live a life not of defeat and surrender, but of entering and possessing the land promised to us.
“The whole commandment which I am commanding you today, you shall keep and do, so that you may live and multiply, and enter and possess the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers. / And you shall remember all the way that Jehovah your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness in order to humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. / And He humbled you and let you go hungry and fed you the manna, which you had never known nor your fathers had ever known, so that He might make you know that man lives not by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out from the mouth of Jehovah.” (Deuteronomy 8:1-3)
For me, one of those unforgettable moments was after we went stargazing that night on the beach. I waited with LU as we ensured all the saints got back safely to the campsite together in the pitch-black dark. A few saints wanted to remain on the beach, but it was time for Lauren and me to return back. As we stood there a moment, I stared up once more. And instead of just feeling so small or alone under the expanse of sky, I felt so comforted and close to each saint. Suddenly, I was beside LU in a different way, knowing she is truly my sister in life and in reality, that she is here for the same reason I am here. And in my heart I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the Lord’s provision to us in this church life and for His grand and wonderful economy. In that moment it was not the unreachable universe that had me in awe, but rather the depths and closeness of the universe inside of me echoing with His creation. We have a universe inside of us, an understanding of and unbreakable tie to our Creator and to the rest of His creation—and to one another. We have a spirit.
We truly do not live on bread alone, but on such a rich and vast supply of Christ Himself. Something inside of us hungers for this sustenance, this divine breath. And we find that inside of us, in each other, and in this very sphere of the church life. When His divinity is mingled in our humanity, when His Spirit is mingled with our spirit, it is right and it is good.
I believe we all had these individual and corporate spiritual memories, and that this time will be remembered not for its beautiful views or fun activities, but for what it built in life and for the saints’ consecration to Him. My prayer before this trip was for us to mature quickly and to build something eternal. Coming home, I know this is true. We are changed. We will not go back. Let us pursue together, let us make more spiritual history in the line of life, let us be the ones to continue the legacy of those who walked on this line before us, let us be the ones to usher in the Lord’s move on the earth today.
– LS