Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
Peter, along with James and John, experience the mountain top transfiguration with Jesus. It was clearly an incredible, supernatural event. Have you ever experienced anything like that? A mountain top experience?
Their response to this epic encounter with God was to fall to the ground, overwhelmed and overcome by what they’ve just witnessed.
But Peter’s next response is interesting. Peter’s next response is entirely in keeping with what we expect of our human intellect and reasoning. He said, “let’s build a monument here!”
So moved was Peter, he didn’t want to lose what he was experiencing and so saw an opportunity to enshrine the encounter by building three tabernacles in it’s honour.
There is a danger in our lives that we romanticise certain high points in our Christian walk and see everything else as lesser in comparison to “how it was then”. We can tend to view everything in present through a filter of our past experiences, always looking back for a gauge and means to judge and understand the future.
Unfortunately, this works at cross purposes with the ways of God. During the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and into the promised land, God sent a cloud by day and fire by night to guide the people. He gave them manna each day for their food. Each day had it’s own provision and God himself would lead and guide them day by day.
God is not interested in us using past experiences as a guide and marker point for walking into our future. God’s way is not to leave us self-sufficient, and able to draw all we need from our own resources and reasoning. No, He wants a people who are reliant on Him daily. That’s why He teaches us to pray “give us today our DAILY bread”. We need to be fed by Him day in and day out.
The human understanding says if something good happens, bottle some of it for tomorrow. God says, don’t worry about tomorrow, it will have enough trouble of its own, instead let me lead you and sustain you today and each day after it.
PRAYER: Lord, I want to move with your presence and take in the highs when they comes but also to stay close to you in the low times as well. Thank you you are with me and sustain me each and every day, and that in you I have hope in the future, In Jesus name, Amen.