HOPE: If we are His, we are going home someday
“I’m kind of homesick for a country
To which I’ve never been before
No sad goodbyes will there be spoken
For time won’t matter anymore
Beulah Land, I’m longing for you
And some day on thee I’ll stand
There my home shall be eternal
Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land.” (“Sweet Beulah Land”)
The melody was familiar, even without the words, as I sat in the early morning service listening to our minister of music play as the piano seemed to ‘sing out’ the words, as they resonated deep in my heart, even though no words were being sung, only the melody played as he ran his fingers ran over the notes.
“I’m looking now, across the river
Where my faith, is gonna end in sight
There’s just a few more days to labour
Then I will take my heavenly flight
Beulah Land, I’m longing for you
And some day on thee I’ll stand
There my home shall be eternal
Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land” (“Sweet Beulah Land” by Squire Parsons)
To the one who has not given his heart to Jesus, he does not understand the longing a believer experiences as he walks through this life, nor does he comprehend the peace felt deep within, even when death comes.
Yet, to the one who has been saved, the comfort of God’s Word resonates deep within us still.
“Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight—
(The Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 5: 6-8 NASB)
we are of good courage, I say,
and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”
It is a morbid thought to think of death, but as I sat listening to this familiar song, I began to contemplate what death means to those who have received Jesus as our Savior.
God’s Great Peace overwhelmed me. Calm claimed my innermost being.
This is the way of the believer who longs for home, for he can be courageous and without dread or fear. The believer has read and believed:
“to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”
In the Old Testament, we find the prophet Isaiah’s proclamation of God’s eternal promise, and we whisper, “Thank You, Father, for sending Jesus to die for even me.”
“And He will be the stability of your times,
(The Book of Isaiah 33: 6 NASB)
A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge;
The fear of the Lord is his treasure.”
Yes, life can be hard. Everything can seem off kilter, the world can appear to be totally in chaos, and it can seem like constant change consumes each person, and even still, we are reminded how encouragement is the opposite of discouragement, how HOPE is the (complete) opposite of despair. For the one who has been redeemed, he remembers that God is reliable, trustworthy, and 100% honest. His Truth and His Promises will stand Forevermore!
“In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.
(The Letter to the Hebrews 6: 17-20 NASB)
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
May we look to the Lord, for He will give us His wisdom and His courage to stand strong when life changes, when everything seems so hard, and when fear claws at our hearts. Even then, we can Walk in Peace, blessed one.