“Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” (Psalm 90:1 NIV)
He is our Home.
Home is not an address or a structure. It’s not a zip code or a state or a country. It’s not even a people as I’ve previously thought. Addresses change. Buildings burn down or fall into disrepair. Zip codes boundaries are redrawn and governments crumble. People pass or pull away. If these temporary structures are our home we will always, eventually find ourselves homeless. Our permanent Home is found in our Lord alone.
Pay attention to the authorship of this passage: it’s in the subscript at the beginning of the psalm – ‘a prayer of Moses the man of God’. Moses, a man who spent his life looking for a permanent place to put his sandals. He spent forty years feeling out of place in Pharaoh’s palace. When he finally fled from his past, he wound up living as an alien in Midian for another four decades. After his encounter with the burning bush, he returned to Egypt and gathered his people only to embark on another forty years wandering in the wilderness. The man who stood on the last mountain overlooking Zion twice never had the opportunity to set so much as a foot on it’s sacred soil. This is the guy who declares God is his Home.
I can relate to Moses’ life of sojourn. Actually, if we examine the ancestors of our faith – Abraham, Moses and David – we see a lot of stake-pulling. These men were more interested in divine pursuit and total obedience than in property rights. I counted it up once, Abraham moved some seventeen times.
I don’t know how many times I’ve moved. I stopped counting after seventeen and at that was years ago. I do know I’ve moved enough to get really good at it. I can make a house into a home in under a month. My friends call it a gift. I call it a survival mechanism.
Our dear Jesus moved a lot, too. He was born far from home. His parents boarded in Bethlehem long enough for the wise men to find them and then a God-dream sent them off to Egypt as fugitives. Eventually the holy family returned to Nazareth, but we know they trekked to Jerusalem for the high feasts. In His public ministry, Jesus relocated often; always just ahead of the Pharisees and their accusations. He, also, was Man without a physical home.
“Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” (Luke 9:58 NIV)
Home is a place my heart continually craves. I know I’m not alone in that. I read a Rolling Stones article awhile back that talked about the explosion of heroine use and how a third of first time users are instantly addicted. One of the addicts described their first encounter with heroin: “It felt like coming home.” And of course, every trip after could not recreate that rush. The enemy offers a taste of a fruit he cannot produce. I read that account and thought, ‘aren’t we all just chasing Home?’
Jesus invites us into a state of homelessness with Him. He calls us to a life of complete dependance on the promises of the Father. This invitation a privilege, not a curse. When we accept His offer, we receive a foretaste of what it means to be at Home in Him.
The benefit of not becoming particularly attached to a plot of land is found in our increasing desire for Heaven. If I’m being honest, I can’t wait to live someplace forever. I am looking forward to a permanent address just down the street from Jesus; my Savior and Friend. Like Moses, a my many moves have fully convinced me: my only true Home is found in Him.
“For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven – God-made, not handmade – and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move – and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-5 MSG)
Lord, we long for Home and perhaps that longing is thinly-disguised desire for You. Help us live loosely attached to latitude and longitude here on earth, but fiercely committed to Your presence. Remind us as often as we need it – that this world is not our Home, but You are. What feels like a long wait now will only be moments in the light of eternity. Remake us faithful as we wait for the fullness of Your promises to unfurl. Amen.