Judges 6-7, Psalm 84, Mark 6:1-13, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Psalm 84:

One of the most compelling natural instincts we have is for “home.” You see it with the way that ex-patriots struggle to accommodate themselves to new cultures, with how missionaries on furlough sometimes feel quite disorientated, with that longing we have for the place where we grew up. But as we go on with the Christian life we become more and more aware that “this world is not our home.” What then? As the psalmist puts it, “even the sparrow finds a home” (verse 3).

This Psalm models for us a longing for our “real home.” It begins: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!” That’s the right vision we are all to have. To see that God’s “home” is the place to be! And so the psalmist continues, “My soul longs, yes faints for the courts of the Lord.” He wants to be at home with God.

What this means is that even when this world is but a pilgrimage – a brief expanse from birth to death – we still can have strength and hope because we know where our true home is. “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highway to Zion” (verse 5). Such people “go through the valley of Baca,” this journey of this life, and have a positive gospel impact on those around: “they make it a place of springs.” Indeed “they go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion” (verse 7).

And so the psalmist realizes the great benefit of having this vision of his life. For “a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” Our “church home” becomes a staging post emblematic and actual of that “eternal home”: “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness” (verse 10). And so “blessed is the one who trusts in you!” (verse 12).

This morning, if you’re not feeling at home, remember that you have a real home still to come! Set your heart upon being at home with God. And you will find that you will have strength now to make the places around “springs” of life and truth and love for Christ’s sake!