March 7, 2013 Welcome Home

Read Psalms 89-90 Welcome Home Ps 90:1 O Lord, you have always been our home. WHAT is home? A true home is a place where people love you, care for you and honor you, and you do the same for them. A true home is a place where you can enjoy good food and a refreshing night’s rest. Home is a place you can always look to when you are lonely and uncertain about life’s events. A good home is a godly home, full of the Lord’s joy, and it is the place where you are always, always welcome. As the psalmist calls God “our home”, he does so because the evidence says this psalm was written in the time of Nehemiah, who guided the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the exile in Babylon. Many of God’s people had been away from their literal home for 70 years. In many ways, they were away from God, their “home”, as well. Why? God, in effect, had shoved them out the door because they were rebellious children. As a good parent must do, he sent his disobedient children away to learn a lesson, to learn they needed his truth, and they needed God, their Father. Now God has welcomed his children home. And Psalm 90 describes their longing for his forgiveness. Their hearts are broken and weary. They are ready to come to God, their true home. Lovingly, God says, “Come.” Wonderfully, he welcomes his children home. Are you away from God, your home? Then say to him, “I want to come home, God. I want to be with you and your other children. I want to honor you and love you. I want to be in a place of peace and joy.” It’s True! When you say, “I need you, Lord.” God will say, “Welcome home.”