After our recent camping experience I said I would share some thoughts on 'tent pegs' before returning to thoughts on the Old Testament Bible book of Job so here goes...
When we arrived at our campsite on the southern tip of Portland Bill we soon jumped out of the car and started setting up our tent. I immediately noticed somebody had left a tent peg in the ground, but thinking nothing of it we got on with our task.
We easily got the two crisscrossing tent support poles slid into position and then I held onto the billowing tent on one side, whilst my husband went to the other side to start banging in the tent pegs.
"Why is he taking so long?"' I wondered...
My arms were starting to ache with the strength of the wind blowing the tent at me, but above the noise of the flapping material I thought I heard a sound of frustration. Still clutching onto the tent I managed to edge round to the other side where I found my husband becoming very discouraged.
"They just won't go in!! Look - they are all bending! The ground is too hard!"
Thoughts of whatever were we going to do and images of packing up and going home started to swirl through our minds.
He tried moving to another spot, and I watched as the tent peg bent as he tried to bang it in.
'How had other people managed?' I thought...'Perhaps it would help if we poured some water on the drought hardened ground'.
We gave it a try - the tent peg seemed to go in a short way and then started to bend again.
"Other people, have got their tents up", I said, "... so there has to be a way. . . is it because the hammer is too heavy for the peg?"
"Could you try pushing the tent peg in first with your hands?"
Pete showed me his palms which were becoming blue from bruising where he had already tried.
Silently praying for help, it started to dawn on me that as Portland was famous for it's stone, that maybe the campsite was also stony, which would explain the pegs bending as soon as they went in any depth.
"Perhaps we just need to keep gently trying the pegs into different bits of ground until we find a gap between the stone. . ."
Glad that there didn't seem to be anybody around to notice our struggle, and thinking it was due to being such camping novices (it was only our second camping experience), we persevered with trying to find ground with enough soil to fix the pegs almost holding our breath as we tentatively tried each one.
Thanking the Lord as they started to finally fix the tent down, we were left with one very bent peg, but then we remembered the one we had seen in the ground when we arrived. After some searching we were able to find it and use it and with a sigh of relief, the tent was secure, with a nearby slab of Portland stone put on top of the two most bent pegs for extra good measure!
***
Whilst trying to bang the tent pegs in and feeling the unmistakable resistance of peg hitting rock and hearing the grating of metal on stone, it felt such a vivid example of our own hearts which are like stone by nature.
As Berridge, the hymn writer says,
God says in Ezekiel 36:26, 'A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh'.
I once heard a minister* compare the immensity and greatness of the miracle of salvation to that of creation. He said that in the creation of the earth Psalm 8:3 says the 'fingers' of God performed this work. But when describing the salvation of man the 'arm' of God was used.
(I cannot remember now which verse from Isaiah he quoted, but it could have been Isaiah 63:5, 'I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me', or possibly Isaiah 59:16, 'And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation'.)
When you think of the wonders and intricacies of creation and then think of the even greater power that was needed to achieve man's salvation doesn't it speak to us of what a miracle it was - what a miracle is performed each time a sinner's heart hears the call of the Lord!
As the water we poured on the ground started to soften it and helped us to bang in the pegs, so the Holy Spirit starts working in our hearts to soften them to hear the Lord's voice.
And yet paradoxically, when we feel our hearts are stone, and feel as we pray the impossibility of 'making' God hear us, the impossibility of being able to believe, we are actually being softened - the Holy Spirit is starting to show us our need and dependence on Jesus to do it all for us. The heart of stone is being broken as it starts to feel its hardness and deadness - when in fact it is a sign of spiritual life, as a hard dead stone does not know it is so!
Those tent pegs which kept bending and we threw to one side seemed to be like the seed which fell by the way side and was trodden down and eaten by birds - those people who when hearing the gospel do not receive it and Satan quickly takes it away from them.
As Paul writes, 'the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the mage of God, should shine unto them' (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Then those tent pegs which initially seemed to be going in and we joyfully thought they would hold and be secure, remind us of the seed which falls upon rock and as soon as it springs up, withers away - like one peg which held the tent secure, but then a gust of wind blew it out of the ground and we realised it too was too shallow and hitting rock - so those people 'receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away,' (Luke 8:13).
Other pegs which seemed to be going in well but then quickly bent out of shape remind me of the seed which fell among thorns - those people 'who when they have heard, go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection' (Luke 8: 14).
When we observe people who don't appear to hear the word, we may think that perhaps the gospel needs to be preached to them more gently - the hammer needs to be less weighty - or perhaps the minister needs to put in more effort - as Pete's hands were bruising from the effort of pushing the pegs in.
But, as Pete's strength, bruised hands, and the hammer's efforts were all in vain - the pegs could not enter into the rock - neither can the gospel be forced, coerced or persuaded into deaf ears and stony hearts. As Agrippa said to Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian" (Acts 26:28) - but, 'almost' is not enough.
But what joy there is in the sinner's heart which believes - and in the hearts of fellow believers and the angels in heaven when they see that the gospel seed sown has taken hold and grown and borne fruit. As those tent pegs which went into good soil disappeared almost out of sight, but witnessed they were working from the visible secure tent, so seed sown into good ground speaks of those, 'which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience' (Luke 8:15).
Lastly, we were so thankful for that tent peg which had been left in the ground! It spoke to us of our 'life's minutest circumstance being subject to his eye'. How wonderful, caring and loving, that this supposedly small and insignificant detail which meant so much to us was provided by our heavenly Father.
Well, I hope you have enjoyed these 'spiritual lessons from tent pegs'! There were a few more, but this has become a bit lengthy now.
*Mr Henry Sant
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Lovely thoughts Ellie. Hope you enjoyed your break x
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