Welcome Home
When are you coming Home? Please come Home. Welcome Home. We tend to put a lot of emphasis on making our dwelling place feel like Home. But what is Home? It can be hard to put into words what Home is like, but you know it when you’re there. No matter how long you’ve been gone, it’s the place you always want to come back to -where you feel the most satisfied, safe, and secure. It’s the place where you can completely be yourself and you know you are still loved.
Often, Home is associated with the people there. I grew up in a Home with parents who loved me and sisters who doted over me. I felt protected and taken care of, and I flourished in that environment. When I got married, I expected the same feelings to follow. They mostly did, but not always as God showed me I expected my husband to fulfill longings that only He could satisfy.
As I matured in my faith and after much suffering through various things God has asked me to endure, I realized God wanted me to experience a taste of Home here, but that ultimately what I was looking for could only be found with Him. My beautiful house, view of the lake from my back porch, comfortable couch and big screen TV couldn’t do it. Being the best mom I knew how to be to my boys has been the greatest reward of my life, but there was still something I was looking for. Not even laying down every night next to my soul mate and waking up together to enjoy First Light was the answer. Sure, all of those things are wonderful, and I appreciate every last one. I don’t take them for granted. But until I realized there is nothing that replaces God as my ultimate HOME, I was never going to be completely satisfied.
Psalm 90. A prayer of Moses.
As I continue in this series on Cries of Praise from the Psalter, Psalm 90 is a prayer of Moses. But it is really a lament. He is feeling the weight of being lumped in with a rebellious people who are not going to enter the Promised Land as God’s judgment for their unfaithfulness. Moses asks for mercy as he remembers God’s character and discovers judgment is not last word in his story.
The Eternal God is my Home
The Sovereign Ruler of the universe is our Master, but also ours to enjoy.1 He has been the dwelling place of His children for all generations. When I am sensing that there must be something more to life, eternity is the answer to feeling homeless.1 God is my Home. He is my Sanctuary for protection and security and sense of well-being. Abiding with Him is my Refuge. I get a sense of that now but will more fully in the future.
Before He created anything, He was. He has always been and always will be The Eternal God.
Eternity is the answer to my sense of homelessness, but I cannot wrap my finite mind around the existence of an Eternal God completely. I can somewhat consider a Kingdom to come as I long for Heaven, but to consider God had no beginning and just has always been is more than I can fathom.
Impoverished view of God
Because of man’s sin in the Garden of Eden, death became part of the curse. Commentators agree that even though Moses uses a different word for dust in Psalm 90:3, he has Genesis 3:19 in view here when he says God returns man to dust.2 Children of man are from the earth and to the corruption of death they will return. This is a call for repentance, a call to show their need for a Savior. Christ is the only Savior and the answer to death and separation from God.
I am becoming convinced that the reason we struggle with the doctrine of salvation is because we have an impoverished view of God’s character -specifically His eternality and omnipresence. Because He is not bound by time or space, He can plan what He knew would happen and still be sovereign over it all as He adopts His children who would never choose Him otherwise. And yet, we are not robots as He delights in our willingness to love Him more than anything else as a reasonable act of worship.
I am choosing to accept what I cannot fully comprehend as I ask the Holy Spirit to continue to teach and guide me in my understanding of Truth, knowing there will come a day when it all makes sense.
Man’s life is brief
God’s perspective of time is radically different from ours. In contrast to God’s eternality, even if you consider the longest man who ever lived, man’s life is brief. When Moses says in Psalm 90:4, a thousand years in God’s sight is but as yesterday when it is past, it is as if he is saying it’s all the same to God.3 This is also quoted in 2 Peter 3:8-11 when God offers salvation to every single human being as a bona fide expression of His good will.1 He is patient and longsuffering until all who are His Beloved come to repentance. But then, when the time comes, Christ’s Return will be sudden .
Moses compares the brevity of life with a watch in the night, being swept away with a flood, a vague and forgotten dream, and grass that withers. Like the promise of early morning, there is hope for renewal. That hope feels short lived as the evening fades. Is Moses questioning whether God will give His people a second thought?
Judgment is not the last word
In awestruck wonder I continue to reflect on an Eternal God being my true Home, especially as I consider how short life here is in comparison. Tune in next week for the conclusion of my reflections on Psalm 90. Along with the Israelites in the wilderness, Moses feels consumed by God’s anger, but judgment is not the last word.
A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
90 Lord, you have been our dwelling place[a]
in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”[b]
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
7 For we are brought to an end by your anger;
by your wrath we are dismayed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
10 The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span[c] is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who considers the power of your anger,
and your wrath according to the fear of you?
12 So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.
13 Return, O Lord! How long?
Have pity on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor[d] of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
Psalm 90 ESV
- Derek Kidner, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Volume 16, Psalm 73-150: An Introduction and Commentary. London: Intervarsity Press, 1975.
- The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
- Eugene Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, NavPress, 2005. Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
A Place Called Home – I love it!- for this post, as well as for our upcoming ladies event!
Thank you!