ENLARGE YOUR TENTS

The enemy of enlargement is the thought that "this is as far as I can go."

Have you ever faced your limit? Maybe the limit of your strength. Or the limit of your patience. Or the limit of your capacity in some work. Or the limit of your capacity to press on in God. Or the limit of your capacity to obey God.

There are those days that God allows us to see our limits. However, it's not so easy to accept. What makes it difficult is seeing the distance between what we are able to do and what we want to reach and more importantly, what we know God has called us to.

“This is as far as I can go” is essentially a statement of resignation. It can evoke frustration, grief, and discouragement. Nonetheless, God allows us to go through this for a good purpose. He wants us to better understand our limited capacity as human beings so that we may be humbled. Because the truth is we have an inaccurate measure of ourselves. We often esteem ourselves better than we ought to. And so He brings to us an awareness of our limitations so we could see what He sees.

But it does not end here. God allows us to have a greater self-awareness so that we may realize our desperate need for Him, that our hearts may be softened towards the Lord and that we may turn to Him. It is in this place that the creation realizes his need for his Creator. It is when man turns to God that He is able to impart to us His grace. When we finally acknowledge the end of our rope, we're finally able to trust God and depend on His grace.

Finally, God also brings us to our limits because interestingly, He wants to enlarge us. For instance, we can admit to God that we only have liter of patience but God tells us that He actually wants to give us a reservoir of patience!

When we are faced with our limits, we have two choices: to resign and say "this is as far as I can go" or to respond to the call of God when we hear Him say, "Enlarge. You can actually go much farther than that because I can enlarge you."

If there's anyone who knew her limit, it had to be the barren woman in Isaiah 54:1-3. Her limitation was an incapacity, in her own strength, to bear fruit. Yet, God gave her a promise of enlargement.

Isaiah 54:1-3
“Sing, O barren,
You who have not borne!
Break forth into singing, and cry aloud,
You who have not labored with child!
For more are the children of the desolate
Than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.
“Enlarge the place of your tent,
And let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings;
Do not spare;
Lengthen your cords,
And strengthen your stakes.
For you shall expand to the right and to the left,
And your descendants will inherit the nations,
And make the desolate cities inhabited."

The instruction to enlarge the tent was given to the woman because barrenness is associated with women and also because it is the women who had the charge to weave the tents in those times ("Houses and Tents," Bible-archaeology.info).

While God gave her a promise of enlargement, He also gave her instructions from which we can learn the right attitudes that will prepare us for enlargement.

Also, while the message today may focus mainly on enlarging our spiritual flocks, the same truths apply in other areas where we have seen our limits and need to allow God to enlarge or expand us.

The Right Attitude Towards Enlargement

1. Sing O Barren - Rejoice! Have faith.

The prophecy of Isaiah was addressed to the one who has yet to bear fruit. The Lord says she ought to sing. She ought to rejoice. Why? Because fruitfulness is coming.

The barren woman had a very clear limitation. She had no natural capacity to produce on her own. This is true in the spiritual. We have no human ability to bear true spiritual fruits. Rejoicing is an act of faith. For the barren woman in Isaiah 54, to rejoice means she had to believe the Word of the Lord that God will bring forth an increase.

Two of the things that can be snatched away from us as we wait on the enlargement or even as we go through enlargement are our joy and faith. Thus, we need to stir up joy and faith in our hearts through praise.

2. Enlarge your tent 

In Bible times, when a tent-dweller's family is growing and they need to make room for more people, they don't change their tents but instead, they expand their tents. They expand their tents by simply adding another section to the old tent ("Manners and Customs: Tents in the Ancient World," Bible-history.com).

This speaks to us of how we need to expand our reach of people. We should not be limited to what or who we already have. We need to try new doors. We need to do hard work to make room for more people. God doesn't enlarge those who are pretty much content with what they have. Enlargement requires work. Indeed, enlargement does not come to the sluggish.

This truth is illustrated by the amount of hard work that the women in the Bible times had to do in order to make tents. “Tents were made from goats' hair or dark sheep's wool, woven in rectangular strips on large looms. Women wove the fabric for the tents, stitched them together, and kept them in good repair. In effect, they were the craftspeople who produced the housing... This would seem heavy work to us, but the Hebrew women were sturdy and skilled, and they worked as a group.” ("Houses and Tents," Bible-archaeology.info).

Source: Bible-archaeology.info

The fruits and promises are given to those who are diligent. The promises are received through faith and patience. Both faith and patience have to be present. We cannot just have faith alone. We also need to wait actively. We are called to be hard-working people, as it is written in Hebrews 6:11-12:

And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

This verse says that both faith and patience is needed. And this patience that we are called to have is not a passive waiting. Instead, the patience that is required of us is likened to the patience of a hard-working farmer, as we are told in James 5:7:

Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.

We should not like be the unprofitable servant in Matthew 25:14-30 who was given one talent but simply decided that he did not want enlargement so he just hid it. Eventually, his sluggishness cost him even that one talent that he had. And so, we must not be easily satisfied.

Enlarging tents meant not making a completely new tent but extending the existing tent by weaving new strips that can be attached to the old. The same principle has to apply in the way we are reaching out to people today. This speaks of seeking new opportunities, without forsaking the old ones. It's adding, not replacing.

3. Let "them" stretch you

It is notable that is says that the stretching will not be done by the woman but by “them.” Who is the “them”? The new occupiers of the tent. This means that we need to allow others to stretch us.

Enlargement brings along new challenges. It’s like having more children. It will bring forth new
responsibilities. There will be new concerns or needs that will arise. But the instruction is for us to “allow them.” This means we must allow the work they are doing in us. The inconveniences, sacrifices, difficulties, heartaches, and the burdens you are carrying will all increase. But know that the rewards are far greater.

No stretching was made to be comfortable. In exercising, if you do not feel your muscle is getting hurt, the stretching is not effective. You need to feel the strain if the work-out is going to make an impact.

The burdens that are put on our shoulders are there for a reason. They stretch us as we learn to lay down our own rights for the sake of others. They build our capacity to love. And so, we must not reject the stretching nor complain about it.

This was one of the things that Mark, the Gospel writer, was not able to do the first time. He deserted Apostle Paul and Barnabas because he could not handle the stretching and difficulties of mission work. But thankfully, eventually, Mark allowed the stretching and the Apostle Paul later on called him "profitable" (2 Timothy 4:11).

God will not always give us easy people to minister to or easy circumstances to deal with. Because if that's what we are looking for all the time, then there will not be true, significant enlargement.

4. Do not spare - to be all out

We ought to give our best to the Lord and His flock. We are being called not to hold back.

In the process of enlargement, do not stop simply at what you think you are able. Because if you stop there, you will not see the increase of the Lord. Take the example of the feeding of the five thousand:

Luke 9:12-14
When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” But He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.” For there were about five thousand men.

When the disciples faced the limit of their capacity and saw that the need was far greater than what they were able to give, they simply said "this is as far as we can go and we cannot do it." They did not ask Jesus how the need can be met.

The point of our limit is the point where God is able to move. Jesus did not send away the people. Instead, He said "bring them to Me" and He looked to the heavens and prayed to the Father and then the increase came (Matthew 14:18-20). Interestingly, after they fed the five thousand men, there were still leftovers - twelve baskets of it! This speaks to us of how God can give us the increase that will be even more than enough for the need.

We must understand that where our strength ends is where God's grace begins.

5. Lengthen your chords

Lengthening can be associated with forbearance.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

We are called to lengthen our cords because God did not give up on us. How many years did it take for us to truly walk with God? At the minimum, for all of us, it took more than two decades. If the Lord gave up on us at any point before that, can we imagine where we would be today? That's the longsuffering of God towards us. And even to this day, His work on us is not yet complete and He is still forbearing.

When we allow God to lengthen our cords, our self-righteousness and critical spirit are being broken. That's why God ordains certain trials or certain people to give us a hard time for a while because we need them to break us and humble us.

6. Strengthen your stakes

Stakes are sharp wood that are hammered to the ground to hold the tent in place. They are tied to the chords which are connected to the tent. They hold the tent in place even against fierce weather conditions. They also keep the shape of the tent ("Tent Peg," Wikipedia.org). Stakes make the tent immovable.

What are the stakes that hold us to the ground? Ephesians 3:17 says that we are to be rooted and grounded in love. Love holds our tent in place. What will allow us to go the distance and go beyond our personal limits and to enlarge is our love for God and our love for others. And we are told in Isaiah 54 to strengthen the stakes, to grow deeper in love so that even if storms do come, our tents will be immovable.

In John 21, the Apostle Peter received a question from Jesus: "do you love Me more than these?" That question was essentially saying: "Peter, you used to say, you love Me more than any of the other disciples. Do you agape love Me more than these?" Peter responds by humbly saying "Lord, you know that I phileo love You" which translates to "I only love you as a friend."

The boastful Peter who once thought he could go farther faced his limit and saw his capacity to betray the Master and that cut him down to size. This time, Peter no longer declares "Lord, I will give my life to You." Instead, he says, "Lord, I love you as a friend" because he was humbled.

But what did Jesus say in response? "Feed My lambs." There was a limit to the love of Peter but that didn't discourage the Lord Jesus to encourage Peter to reach out and love others. Then Jesus asks Peter again the same question and tells Him "tend My sheep."

In the third time, Jesus asks Peter "do you phileo love me?" And Peter was grieved in heart that Jesus would ask him a third time and he responds "Lord, You know all things; You know that I phileo love You.” To which Jesus says, "feed My sheep."

The Lord knows our limits but that has never kept God from moving on with His walk with us. When Peter told Him, "this is all I can give Lord - just my phileo love," Jesus did not say, "then you're not worthy to be My disciple."

This is because Jesus didn't only know Peter's limits but Jesus also knew what He could give to Peter. We know this because Jesus tells Peter "when you were young, your feet went wherever you wanted to go but when you are old, they will take you were you do not want to go." Jesus was declaring how Peter will die, that he will finally die on a cross as he initially said he would do for Christ.

Jesus was saying "I know you Peter, I know that this is as far as you can go. But even if that's just as far as you can go, I am not quitting on you. And if you will allow Me to do My work in you, I will take you the distance where you can finally say that you agape love Me." And no better way to declare his agape love for the Lord than to be crucified upside down.

So God ordains that we face our limits but not so that we quit and resign to say "this is as far as I can go." Instead, He reveals and allows us to face our limits because He wants to enlarge us.

Sources:
"Houses and Tents." Bible Archaeology, Aug. 2016, www.bible-archaeology.info/housing.htm.
"Manners and Customs: Tents in the Ancient World." Bible-history.com, 21 Aug. 2016, http://www.bible-history.com/links.php?cat=39&sub=425&cat_name=Manners+%26+Customs&subcat_name=Tents.
"Tent Peg." Wikipedia.org, Aug. 2016, wikipedia.org/wiki/Tent_peg.