On Tents and Homes
The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. -Proverbs 14:11
I like camping, but I wouldn’t want to live in a tent. Tents are temporary and have minimal possessions. A house is where you build a life. We’re on vacation (staycation) this week. It’s our 20-year anniversary tomorrow. We were blessed back in November with a house we absolutely love. We’re spending our time putting our house together. We like camping as a family, but I doubt any of our time this week will be spent power washing our tent.
Consider what is being said in this proverb. The house of the wicked will be destroyed. You build houses. You plant with a house. It’s where you throw your life (and a good chunk of your paycheck). It’s all an effort to make a house a home.
I think we read the term “wicked” and picture horns growing out of someone’s head. But biblically speaking it’s a little less obvious. The wicked, though the image of God is horrendously distorted, still carry about them the image of God. Those creational impulses, though distorted, are still present. Do you know what that means? It means that when the wicked are building a house it comes from the desire to rest. It’s an attempt to get back to the Garden.
That was the case with the goons who built the Tower of Babel. It was an attempt to reach the heavens. A foolish effort to get “back home” without acknowledging the Creator. It’d be like the prodigal son coming back home and pushing the father to the ground when he comes out for the hug. It’s wicked. And it’s foolish. The wicked are building houses out of the same God-given desire that we all have, but they are wickedly working in defiance of the living God.
This is why, ultimately, the house will be destroyed. God in His goodness does not accept rival kingdoms. There is no ultimate flourishing where the wild things are. The gates to the Garden are closed and with it so are our fulfilled longings. It’s only opened through the Cross. We gain entry by our having been united to Christ.
Something else beautiful happens when we are united to Christ—even our tents will flourish. We see this with Daniel and some of the faithful exilic community. We can see it with Joseph in Genesis 38-50. The upright are able to flourish anywhere. The upright have the same desire for shalom as the wicked. But the upright know that it’s only found in the Lord.
The wonderful thing, though, is that God is everywhere. Even in Babylon. Even in Egypt. Because of this you can pitch your tent anywhere and God is able to fulfill your longing. He can, as the psalmist said, set a table in the wilderness.
God often has us in tents instead of homes. It’s a way of showing His care and that He alone is the source of our blessings. As Psalm 127 tells us, “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.” That tells me a little something about the house we’re working on these couple weeks. If we view like a house—like a permanent dwelling, like the place where all our longings will be fulfilled—it will ultimately disappoint. But if we understand it to be a tent—a place where God creates flourishing and fulfills our longings—well, it can make quite the home.