Home Is A Haven When God is There

 

  

"A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High. God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed.  From the very break of day, God will protect it." -Psalm 46:4-5

Sometimes I can't help but wonder if as Christians we have forgotten the true definition of home? Home is supposed to be our haven. It is where life happens and lives are built. It's the foundation of our life. It's where dinner conversation is lively and inquisitive. It's where life is sorted out, birthdays are celebrated and the big questions are asked of God. It's where love is built and cherished. It's a sacred place. Yet so many seem to be out and about in a chronic rush and illness of avoiding home.

Our homes have become more of a showpiece house and less of a home. When others come over it looks like a showpiece because we are never there! If we are home, truly letting life happen in our home, floors get dirty, carpets get stained and things can get messy quickly, especially with children. Things get disorganized, there are dirty dishes in the sink and toys on the floor. There are piles of books and magazines by the beds waiting to be read by those who live there. I'm not advocating everything being overly messy or cluttered, but rather that there is a balance when we really let life be in our homes. When we let God be in our homes.

God dwells in our homes when we ask Him too. He's the river of life running through it. He brings life, spirit, laughter, love, liveliness, and forgiveness to our homes. He's the one who sustains the home and brings the breath of life to it. We want God to dwell in our homes and that takes daily intent. God's spirit doesn't truly dwell in our homes if we aren't on an intentional quest for His spirit to dwell within ourselves daily. He dwells within us and it pours out onto those we love and into our homes.

People are running back and forth chaotically avoiding home. Are we afraid of what God will say? Maybe we are afraid if we slow down enough to listen God will ask big things of us. Maybe we're afraid of what sin God will make us face in our life. Home is truly a place where we are required to stop and slow down enough to listen to God's voice. Let's not avoid it. Home is the beginning, the "bottom stones" that the foundation of our wall of life is built on. And we want a firm foundation. We can't be afraid to listen to what God will say to us there.

Hastily running around, to this activity and that---filling our empty calendar days to feel important, to "fill us up"---is only emptying us. It empties our souls of God and His word. He can't fill us up when we won't stop to be filled. He wants us to "pursue and knock" at His door. He wants us to take the time to want to do it ourselves.

 When we run around as a lifestyle, our soul will quickly become depleted, rather than a place where the Holy Spirit can give us life. When we are chronically stricken with the busyness disease, we also leave the door open to the things we let in that the door should have been slammed on. We let in a lot of the sinful things of the world when we are out running away from our haven of security, our homes. Our homes are our protection. They are the place where we determine the values that are brought in, where we determine what is let in and what is not. If we are never there to create this atmosphere, the door is wide open to whomever and whatever will come into make that atmosphere for us. The atmosphere and culture of our homes takes work and effort.

We have to put up our spiritual doorposts and build the spiritual walls around our homes that are unshakable. The signs are outside the gates of our homes whether we realize it or not. What do they say? "The culture of shallowness and anger and dispute and humanism dwell here." Or do they say, "God, giver of life, restoration, forgiveness, love, fun, joy and growth reside in this home?"

"She was the brash, rebellious type,  never content to stay at home." Proverbs 7:11

God knows the importance of home. He's the one who invented home! He's the one who gave us a home country, culture, and then a home in that land. He knows it's where we are shaped and molded---but He needs to be there. We have to ask God to dwell in our homes and bring His spirit of life. He won't bring anything that we are to be afraid of or anything that is too hard to face. He will bring life and peace into it. He will bring joy and abundant life. Let's not be afraid to dwell in our homes ourselves so that God can dwell in them.  If we are out running around avoiding home, the very place we sink so much money into each month, there may be more we are avoiding than we are admitting to ourselves. 

He will bring the life back into our homes, because He is the very essence of life Himself. He designed life and He designed the very idea of home. He wants to be the One who provides that haven of rest and peace in our homes.

"The world's battlefields have been in the heart chiefly; more heroism has been displayed in the household and the closet, than on the most memorable battlefields in history." -Henry Ward Beecher

Prayer: "Lord, if I am avoiding "being at home"---show me why. Reveal my heart and my fears to me and show me that you have already conquered my fears and my sin. Show me how to dwell in your presence and make my home a place your presence dwells. Help make my home your home, a dwelling place for the Most High."

A man ought to live so that everybody knows he is a Christian... and most of all, his family ought to know. -D.L. Moody

"The Lord curses the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the upright." Proverbs 3:33

"Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates, waiting for me outside my home!" Proverbs 8:34

"A person who strays from home is like a bird that strays from its nest. Proverbs 27:8"

"I would bring you to my childhood home, and there you would teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, my sweet pomegranate wine." Song of Solomon 8:2


May God's peace and wisdom be with you as you build your own wall of God's truth.