Homesick

“We know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made—and we’ll never have to relocate our tents again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move, and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions down here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing—our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less” (II Corinthians 5:1–5, The Message).

Every once in a while, I find myself very homesick—homesick for a place that I have not yet been. C.S. Lewis said, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

The passage quoted above comes from Eugene Peterson’s New Testament in Contemporary Language, titled The Message. In verses 6–8, he continues in a manner that mirrors what C.S. Lewis said: “You won’t see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don’t get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead.”

Recently, I have been listening to an old gospel song written by Dottie Rambo titled “The Holy Hills of Heaven Call Me.” If I have listened to it once in the past couple of months, I’ve listened to it a hundred times. Each time I listen to it, my personal longing for heaven increases exponentially.

“The holy hills of Heaven call me to mansions bright across the sea.Where loved ones wait and crowns are given, the hills of home are calling me.

I see loved ones over yonder; their tears are gone, and their hearts are free.And from the throne, King Jesus beckons, and the hills of home are calling me.

This house of flesh is but a prison; bars of bone hold my soul.But these doors of clay will burst wide open when the angels set my spirit free.

Then I’ll take my flight like a mighty eagle—oh, the hills of home are calling me.”

Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” I believe that verse with all my heart. I know that God alone knows the days of my sojourn on planet Earth. I am not leaving this place one minute early or one minute late, according to God’s sovereign plan. But that does not mean I am not ready to go.

The Apostle Paul also wrote these words: “I prefer to be absent from this body and to be at home with the Lord” (II Corinthians 5:8), or “I am hard-pressed, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for this is very much better” (Philippians 1:23).

An old B.J. Thomas song says:

“They say that heaven’s pretty and living here is too.But if they said that I would have to choose between the two, I’d go home—home where I belong.

And sometimes when I’m dreaming, it comes as no surpriseThat if you look, you’ll see a homesick feeling in my eyes.I want to go home—home where I belong.”

Though I am here until my Lord chooses otherwise, that does not mean I am not hearing the holy hills of Heaven calling.