“Soul Talk: I Want to Go Home”
Ps. 84
In New York in the spring of 1927, Lillian Alling, a young servant, became very homesick and decided to return to her family in Russia. Because she had saved only $100 and would not accept lifts from strangers she would have to walk the 12,000 miles. Equipped with maps, a knapsack and an iron rod for protection, the frail girl passed through Chicago, Winnipeg, British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska, arriving in Nome, the halfway mark for her epic journey, in July 1929. Soon after leaving Nome, she was seen approaching Cape Prince of Wales and that was the last time anyone on this continent is known to have seen or heard of her. She had apparently reached the Cape, as she had planned, obtained a boat and rowed across the 36 miles of Bering Strait to Siberia. That’s a real longing for home.
While you’ve probably never walked that far to get home, you know the feeling. You take a wonderful trip and have a great time. But you no sooner drive in your driveway and enter your house when you breathe out heavily and say, “It’s good to be home.”
As a college freshman you could not wait to leave home for school, to be away from family and be independent; it’s what you desired for several years. At Thanksgiving you return for the long weekend. After a night in your own bed and several home cooked meals you say, “It’s good to be home.”
An astronaut flies to the moon and spends several days in space; he’s overwhelmed, awed, and inspired. He’s already planning to return on another mission. Yet when the shuttle lands and he steps out onto mother earth, he says "It’s good to be home.”
The Israelites experienced the same emotions every time they traveled to a special celebration in the Temple – it was good to be home again. That is the context of Psalm 84 – on just such a trip the Psalmist thinks about being home with God. And that strikes a harmonious chord within us, because OUR DEEPEST LONGING IS TO BE HOME IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD. Why is this longing so compelling?
First, of all, to be at home with God is to live in a CONSTANT ENVIRONMENT OF HIS PRESENCE. We all have places or experiences where God was very much alive to us. For Abraham it was Bethel. For Moses it was Mt. Sinai. For Jesus it was Gethsemane. For the Psalmist it was the Temple. Being away from the Temple, from the presence of God, freshens perspective and brightens memory. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, which leads to homesickness. OUR DELIGHT IS CENTERED WHERE GOD LIVES. Verse 1:”How lovely is your dwelling place, LORD Almighty!” The place where God lives is beyond expression. It is difficult to understand the impression that the temple of Solomon made on the Hebrew worshiper. David proposed the temple and amassed the materials. A hundred thousand talents of gold and a million talents of silver were collected from the people. When he had donated gold from his own fortune and that of the other princes, the building contained something like the equivalent of $4.9 billion in precious metals. It took seven years and six months to complete. Thirty thousand Israelites and 150,000 Canaanites were utilized as hewers of stone, carriers of water, and builders. God's presence in the temple was overwhelming in the dimensions of the place. In the Old Testament world you met the living God in the massive, gold-covered cedar beams and the stonework of that building. Following the resurrection and ascension of Jesus the focus shifted to a different dwelling of God. Paul envisioned it and said it was untranslatable; John envisioned it and could only explain it in the symbols of the book Revelation. But in every case it is not so much the place that is important but the person who lives there. The value of any place lies in people in that place. To be with God, to live in His presence, is the greatest single delight our souls can hold.
That’s why the Psalmist continues, verse 2: “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Because we delight to be in God’s presence, OUR DESIRES ARE CENTERED WHERE GOD LIVES. Our hunger consumes us; our appetite is for God. It is an intensity of spirit. Like a baby crying out for an unmet need, our whole being cries out for God. While the primary reference here is to worship in the sanctuary, the desire is for the presence of God! That’s why John, in Revelation 21 & 22 ends his description of the new heaven and earth by describing the effects of the presence of God: no more death, sorrow, sighing, -- no need for light of sun, moon, or stars for God Himself will be with His people. That’s why John writes that the ultimate hope is that we will see God in Jesus face to face. Remember how the hymn writer put it: “One glimpse of His dear face all sorrows will erase!” This is why worship is so critical for us – it forms our desires, frames our perspective, and enables us to worship and walk daily in the presence of God.
And that, wrote the Psalmist, means OUR DIRECTION IS CENTERED ON PRAISE. Verses 3-4: “Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—a place near your altar, LORD Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you.” The sparrow, by Jesus admission, is worth little; yet it lives in the presence of God! And so do we! None of us is worthless to Him! None of us is homeless. None of us is useless! We have a home in the presence of God! And the swallow - ever restless, never still, always flitting around – has found a resting place. So have we! God is our Refuge; God is our Fortress; God is our Haven of Rest. We have perpetual contact with God. None of us is rejected. That’s why we can continually offer praise. At home with God we are loved, accepted, valued, and cared for. It is good to be home with God in a constant environment of presence.
The Psalmist also says that to be at home with God is to experience CONSISTENT EMPLOYMENT OF HIS POWER. When we worship and praise God daily we become acutely aware of his presence and power. No matter where we are, no matter what our circumstances, OUR HEARTS ARE TIED TO HOME. A female moth of a rare species was placed in a room. Four miles away a male moth of the same species was released. In spite of the din and smoke of the city, in spite of the distance, and in spite of the fact that the female was in a closed room, in a few hours the male moth was found beating its wings against the window of the room in which the female was confined! Tagged salmon released from Columbia River Point spend four years in the Pacific, then consistently return to the spots from which they departed thousands of miles away. Or think of the homing pigeon – take one anywhere, release it, and it will fly a few circles in the air and then head straight for home. It is the nature of the dove.
Knowing our homing nature, the Psalmist says, verse 5: “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.” “Have set their hearts” is literally “have highways in their hearts.” Just as the fiery cloud and pillar were the highway map for Israel in the wilderness, so for us Jesus is the way. After Jesus had talked about leaving for heavenly places, Thomas said that they didn’t know where we was going and wondered how, then, they could know the way. Jesus replied “I am the way.” THROUGH JESUS GOD’S WAY IS IN OUR HEARTS AND OUR HEARTS ARE IN GOD’S WAY. That’s why we are prepared for our pilgrimage. Verses 6-7: “As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.” OUR HIGHWAYS ARE TRAVELED WITH STRENGTH. Difficult trials are inevitable. Elijah had his wilderness; Moses had his backside of the desert; Joseph had his prison; Daniel had his lion’s den; Job had his losses; Paul had his whippings and beatings; Jesus had his Gethsemane and his cross.
So we have our illnesses, our job turnovers, our personal losses, our broken relationships, our crumbled dreams. Yet those who live and walk in the power of God overcome and transform these trials. We muster strength through divine inner resources – we go not from weakness to weakness or defeat to defeat but from strength to strength. On our earthly journey through life the further we go the weaker we get. Our vision dims, our hearing weakens and our steps falter. But on our spiritual pilgrimage we gain strength as the journey gets tougher. It is the mighty truth of Scripture: Isaiah 40:31: "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." So affliction is transformed to joy, hardship to rejoicing, weakness to strength, death to life. 2 Corinthians 3:18 (RSV), “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another…”
I’m reminded of singer Steven Curtis Chapman. Just two months after the death of his 5-year-old daughter, Maria Sue, in a tragic accident at the family's home, Chapman opened a concert with "Blessed Be Your Name.” "Blessed Be Your Name" was also the first song Chapman sang May 21, the day of Maria's death, when he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to sing again. Inspired by the story of Job, at one point the lyrics repeat, "He gives and takes away." Chapman explained to the audience of nearly 5,000 "As I sang this song … it wasn't a song, it was a cry, a scream, a prayer. I found an amazing comfort and peace that surpasses all understanding." Chapman also shared that after Maria's death, he'd reconsidered the words to all his songs and if he could still sing—and believe—them. Instead, losing his little girl brought the meaning of some of those songs into sharper focus. One example was "Yours," which addresses how everything in the world belongs to God. "In this song, in particular, I had to come to a new realization," he said. "There's not an inch of creation that God doesn't look at and say 'all of that's mine.'" As a result of that realization in conjunction with Maria's death, Chapman added a new verse to "Yours": ‘I've walked the valley of death's shadow so deep and dark that I could barely breathe. I've had to let go of more than I could bear and I've questioned everything that I believe. Still even here in this great darkness a comfort and a hope comes breaking through as I can say in life or death God we belong to you.”
That is why the Palmist continues that OUR HOPE IS FUELED BY TRUST. Verses 8-9: “Hear my prayer, LORD God Almighty; listen to me, God of Jacob. Look on our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one.” In a healthy home the family members talk with one another. If Barb and I take a walk together we are not silent all the way figuring we must wait to get home to speak. No! We talk with each because we’re together. It is the same with living in the presence of God. We talk and pray with Him all along the way. We can pour out our hearts to Him, because we can trust Him. Whatever your situation today, God is saying “Talk with me. Let me work with you.” If we trust Him we can RESIGN ALL OUR WORRIES AND RELINQUISH ALL OUR WANTS. God does not want us to be back seat drivers: “Turn here. Watch out for that car. Don’t go so fast. We’re going to be in an accident!” We sometimes wish we had that extra set of brakes that some drivers ed cars have -- so we can stop the car when we don’t like where it’s headed. The danger is that if we keep back-seat driving, at some point God will say, “Here. You drive.” We must choose who will drive our lives – do we trust God to drive? Are we willing to let go of the steering wheel so he can take complete control?
A few years ago a dear friend of ours wrote about her young daughter. She was riding the bus home from school and as it turned into their plat the bus driver passed out and the bus went into a snowbank. Our friend wrote, “There happened to be a sixth grader on the bus who ran up, used the bus radio to call 911 and shut off the motor to the bus and placed it in gear. Ok, now the "Praise God" part. Across the street lived a Police officer who had just pulled in his driveway who came running, my neighbor who is a fire fighter was coming down the street and helped, the sixth grader knew enough to call 911 and figure out how to shut down the bus. There just happened to be a big enough snow bank in this particular part of the street that could stop the bus from running into the house a stone throw away and we are so very thankful that he was in the plat and not crossing over the highway or even on Oakland Drive with all of the traffic. Now none of the neighborhood kids want to ride the bus in fear, so they are going to have counselors at school to work with the kids. My daughter said during her prayer, "Thank you God and Daddy for keeping us safe on the bus and help our driver to be able to drive us again so he'll know we still love him." I, acting like the deranged mother said, "Are you nuts? I'm sure he won't be driving school bus anymore." My daughter replied, "Mom, remember we are not in control and you have to let go and trust in God that I will be safe." It is good to be home with God and to trust Him because there is a consistent employment of power to transform our lives.
The third insight of the Psalmist is that if we are living in God’s presence and power we will experience CONSIDERABLE ENCOURAGEMENT OF HIS PROVISION. We long to be at home with God because He cares and provides for us.. Verse 10: “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.” WE ARE ENCOURAGED BY PERSPECTIVE. To be a door keeper, to have the lowest position in heaven, is greater than the highest position on earth. To be of service in the presence of God is the highest privilege of all – and God provides us with that opportunity everyday!
The Psalmist adds, verse 11, that WE ARE ENCOURAGED BY PLENTY: “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” God the Sun - the source of life. God the Shield – the protector from all that seeks to destroy life. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior your name is in His Book of Life. You are secure. As Psalm 91 reminds us, “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways...” God honors and favors you with grace and glory. All good things – all good things – all good things – are yours. As the Elder Son in the parable of the Prodigal was told, everything the Father has is yours! (1 Cor. 2:9-10 ESV) “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.”
With that knowledge WE ARE ENCOURAGED BY PEACE. Verse 12: “LORD Almighty, blessed is the one who trusts in you.” At home with God there is total blessedness, pure contentment; we are at one with God, ourselves, the world, and others. We have God in Jesus Christ – what more do we need? “I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold; I’d rather be His than have riches untold; I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands. I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sins’ dread sway. I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.”
No matter where you’ve come from, no matter what you’ve done or failed to do, Jesus stands ready to give you more grace. Jesus is saying to each of you, WELCOME HOME! Even now He’s running to greet you, with arms open wide. He’s excited you’re here. WELCOME HOME!
(1) Freling Foster, Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times. Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.
(2) David Harp – sermons.logos.com
(3) Copyright © 2008 by the author or Christianity Today International / Today's Christian magazine.
(4) I’d Rather Have Jesus, Rhea F. Miller© 1922, renewed 1950
