Read Psalm 119:81-88.
Have you ever been homesick? I’ve never been away from home long enough to really feel homesick, but I once took a school trip to France and saw firsthand the desolation of homesickness in a teenage girl. Normally confident and outdoing, she became withdrawn and disconsolate, spending most of her time sobbing. We were only away two nights, but she was inconsolable. I doubt she learnt much of the history and culture during the trip as she was entirely focussed on her feelings of longing for home.
We are, Peter tells us, ‘aliens and strangers in the world.’ (1 Pet 2:11) God has set eternity in our hearts (Eccl 3:11) and there is a longing for salvation, for our ultimate home with God, which no amount of earthly joy can fully satisfy. Phil Wickham captures this perfectly in his song ‘Eden’ which yearns for the perfection and intimacy of fellowship we once knew with God and in his ‘Heaven Song’ which yearns for greener pastures, higher hills and the joy of seeing Jesus face to face.
Ps 119:81 says ‘My soul faints with longing for Your salvation’ – in the Message version, ‘I’m homesick – longing for Your salvation.’ The promise of future perfection comes from God’s Word in which we hope (Ps 119:82), but in the meantime, there is a cry of ‘How long?’ (Ps 119:82, 84; see Ps 13:1-2) This present life has pitfalls and snares, enemies who persecute without cause (Ps 119:85-6). We need revival and preservation from God (Ps 119:88), for this journey, this waiting, is not easy.
The Bible ends with a prayer: ‘Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with God’s people. Amen.’ (Rev 22:20-21). Grace is the thing which will see us through, but the waiting will always be tinged with yearning (Rom 8:24-25).
