Home

“The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world. God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.”
Psalm 19:1-4 NLT

David wrote that God “has made a home in the heavens for the sun”. Of course, we remember the creation story in Genesis 1:14-18, “Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good”. So the largest light, the sun, was there to govern the day and to “separate the light from the darkness”. In David’s words, the sun was important enough to be positioned in the heavens, as a permanent feature, giving light and warmth to God’s creation.

The word “home’ brings to our minds all kinds of thoughts. There is something comforting to return to a familiar place, kick off our shoes, hang up our jackets, and put our cosy slippers on our feet, in a place where we live and the place we call “home”. Here we can relax and recharge our physical and emotional batteries, in a place of relative security away from the hustle and bustle of life on Planet Earth. We pilgrims also are aware of our future “home” when we will cross the Great Divide into God’s place. Jesus said to His disciples (and by implication to us modern day disciples as well), “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am” (John 14:1-3). We find that God has a home where we will join him and claim it to be our home as well. But what sort of place will our new home be? We don’t really know with any certainty, but we are sure that it will be far better than what we have at present.

Interestingly, God’s home will not always be in Heaven, contrary to popular opinion. In Revelation 21:3 we read, “I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them”. Where will His new home be? On the new earth and located in the New Jerusalem. And there will be no home for the sun anymore, because John ” … saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone” (Revelation 21:1). Why will the sun not be there? Because “ … there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).

We pilgrims are truly a favoured people, because God Himself will provide all the security and comfort that we have come to expect from our earthly homes. We may not have a favourite pair of slippers but there will be something far better waiting for us. And we read, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” (Revelation 21:4). All the things of this world that we long to escape from won’t be a problem in our new home, whether in Heaven or on the New Earth, because they won’t exist.

God is a homemaker. He created a home for us on this earth, perfect in every way, but along came the devil and corrupted it through sin and evil. But God made a promise in Genesis 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them“. God would not have created something He thought was imperfect. We have been created in His image, and as God is perfect, we too have perfection in Him within our grasp.

Dear Father God. We praise and worship our eternal Creator today, grateful for all You have done for us. Amen.

“Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge.”
Psalm 16:1 NLT

A short verse this morning that starts our contemplation of Psalm 16. Safety is something we all yearn for, but in our physical lives it is not always achievable. There is something wired into human beings that desires a safe place and we often talk about “home”. There is something reassuring about entering our front doors, turning the lock and relaxing in what we perceive as a safe place. People with substantial means can afford to employ people to keep them safe, or they can afford to live in places where they think that their wealth will defend them. But there are many in the world that don’t have that safety and security, people with limited means living in hostile nations, people who are tent dwellers, or refugees, and so on.

David was a man who knew what it was like to be in places of danger. He always seemed to be fighting someone, both inside and outside Israel, and not just Goliath. There was a time when he found safety in a cave, “So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. Soon his brothers and all his other relatives joined him there” (1 Samuel 22:1). David also made Jerusalem a place of safety, “So David made the fortress his home, and he called it the City of David. He extended the city, starting at the supporting terraces and working inward” (2 Samuel 5:9). Of course, at other times, David did not need to run and hide in a place of safety, because, with the Lord with him, he was able to fight off his foes and ensure his own safety following victory in battle. In fact, David prayed to God many times for safety and God answered his prayers, and, as we know, David died of old age, not being killed by his enemies in a vulnerable place.

But there is a spiritual side to David’s appeal to God for safety as well. We read in Proverbs 18:10, “The name of the Lord is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe“. We also read in Proverbs 29:25, “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety“. As we read these and similar Scriptures, a picture builds of the ultimate place of safety as being in God.

With Jesus came the ultimate route to a safe place for our souls in Heaven. There will be no conflict or danger there, just peace and love in a dwelling place where no door locks are required. We pilgrims of course know the way to find that place of safety for our souls. Romans 10:9-10, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved“.

With God we find the safety for which our souls crave, and a place we can call home. That’s what the saints of old called Heaven – they used to say that when they die they will be going “home”. David realised that and he finished Psalm 23 with, “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever“. We can’t move on today without reading a few verses about our ultimate place we will call home. Contrary to popular opinion, there will come a time when God will create a new Heaven and a new Earth, where a new Jerusalem will be formed. God’s people will live there, not in Heaven, and we read in Revelation 21:3, “I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them”. In Heaven we will have spiritual bodies, but eventually we will have physical bodies like that of Jesus, bodies as God originally intended, bodies that will never wear out, and we, in our new bodies, will find a new home with God on the new earth.

Too much to take in? Suffice to say that God is indeed our place of safety, now and forever.

Dear Father God. There will be a day when You will come to live on the new Earth with Your people. We look forward to the time when there will be no more death, crying and sickness, and we repeat the words uttered by many saints over the years – come Lord Jesus. Amen.

God the Homemaker

Safety in God