Hebrews 11:9-10 (English Standard Version) By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
J. M. Boice writes "it is a vision of the city of God that makes pilgrims." He defines a pilgrim as "not someone who has merely left home. A person who has done that but no more is a drifter. Rather, a pilgrim is one who has left home but is also traveling to another home. A pilgrim has had a vision of a goal, a destination, and is determined to hang loose on everything else until the achievement of that new and better place".
Are you at home in the world, the bright lights and culture of the city, are you a drifter, having given up on the rat race but drifting still not having found meaning, or are you a pilgrim, looking forward to a known destination?
Boice writes, "we were - like Abram in Ur - well settled in the world, and God had to literally blast some of us out of our ungodly moorings. Only now, having been found by Christ, we are pilgrims."
For today's verse we'll go to Psalm 84 which relates to these thoughts.
Psalm 84:5 (New King James Version) Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
I'll close with a song that is probably one of the first songs that I remember learning as a child in Sunday School. It rings true in my heart today.
This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me from heavens open door
And I can't feel at home in this world any more
O Lord, you know I have no friend like you
If heaven's not my home, then Lord what will I do
The angels beckon me from heavens open door
And I can't feel at home in this world any more
Psalm 84:12 O LORD of hosts,
Blessed is the man who trusts in You!
Blessings,
Mike
mikesvotd.blogspot.com
Psalm 84 (New King James Version)
Psalm 84
To the Chief Musician. On an instrument of Gath. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
1 How lovely is Your tabernacle,O LORD of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, even faints
For the courts of the LORD;
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
And the swallow a nest for herself,
Where she may lay her young—
Even Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
My King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in Your house;
They will still be praising You. Selah
5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
They make it a spring;
The rain also covers it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength;
Each one appears before God in Zion.
8 O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9 O God, behold our shield,
And look upon the face of Your anointed.
10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.
12 O LORD of hosts,
Blessed is the man who trusts in You!
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