Are You Homesick?

Dear friends and family...

I have been thinking about going home a lot lately, thinking about being homesick, and sick of seeing this world falling apart before our very eyes, as the tears come quite frequently now over all the abominations that are being done. It makes me long for home even more, watching evil coming to the full in a world which has almost wholly forsaken their creator. It has fallen on our generation to see what happens when people are NOT homesick for their home on high, or worse yet, don't even believe in it, or their creator. If only they could see through it all...to see that it is BECAUSE they have forsaken their Savior that the curse is overtaking the world, just as God warned in Leviticus and Deuteronomy and Joshua & all throughout the Bible. Here's a song I love to sing also, called I don't feel at home in this world any more. So true! Enjoy. You can sing with him. Singing, for me, takes the edge off of the longing, but it never goes away, and never will.

This writing I found on a greeting card by Roy Lessin expressed that longing perfectly, and it sure holds true for me, as I get more homesick each and every day. So I thought I'd share it with you. That longing to go home! See if you emphasize with it, 'cause I sure do! And a reminder that worldly people long for this world and all of its pleasures instead of longing to be with their creator, who has given them all these blessings, and giving Him thanksgiving for it.

Have you ever been homesick? It's a hard thing to go through. When you're homesick, your world turns upside-down and backwards. It can paralyze you emotionally and keep you from enjoying the place you are in. Homesickness really is a longing for home.

There is another kind of homesickness that can impact our lives. It is spiritual homesickness. God made us for the purpose of knowing and enjoying Him--so when we live our lives separated from Him because of sin, we experience spiritual homesickness. We may identify it as loneliness or lack of fulfillment. But regardless of what we call it, it is an empty place within us that only God can fill.

He waits, even now, for you to ask Him to fill the empty place within. Revelation 3:20 is one of my favorite scriptures. Jesus is saying ..."Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." And Jeremiah 33:3, another favorite: "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." I call it God's phone number, and you will never get a busy signal. But too few people utilize it now. He waits to see who wants to commune with Him...to fill that empty spot within which will never be satisfied without Him. Reminds me of the "proverb" or saying...Know Jesus, know peace. No Jesus, no peace. He will give you a peace in your soul that passeth understanding. Or you can choose the opposite. "There is no peace for the wicked". The Bible contains a storehouse of wisdom and instruction and delight, but too few people read it these days, or delight in it. It is communion with our Lord, along with prayer. Sweet communion. You can see what is happening in the world that has mostly turned it's back on God, or have chosen to serve false gods. At least, those with eyes that can see. Because God said that the wicked will not know, they will not see when His hand is lifted up. And Jesus also said, "He who is not with me, is against me." And that's a sad state to be in.

When I was looking for a good Hymn or song to go with Homesickness, I found this article and song, on this page, to properly credit its author, and share his site with you. https://hymnsinmyheart.wordpress.com/2021/05/04/ive-never-been-this-homesick-before/

There's one other song that expresses it well, called "Thinkin' 'Bout Home" which I love to sing.

The last verse says: I said, tell me old man, where's your home, and what's it like?

He said, oh, ain't nothin' 'round here, that compares. You see, a King had it built and gave the deed to me. And all my family's already there. And I'm thinkin' bout home, thinkin' bout goin' home. Dreaming 'bout leaving here, ready to be movin' on...oh, I ain't got long, before the sun will set, and I'll be home, but until then...I'll be thinkin' bout home. Oh, it won't be long....

How about you? Are you thinkin' about home? Our time here on earth is growing shorter day by day...and we have our work to do, while it's still light...before the Lord brings darkness, to tell the world about their Savior, Jesus Christ, and pray that they will also seek Him and have that empty spot filled with the light of His love, and...become homesick for home also. Homesick to be with Him in our home on high...because, this old world is not our home. So, I thought I'd add this song, so you can sing it to the Lord also. For, He inhabits our praises. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. I pray that the Lord will bless you richly this day...and give you strength and peace and grace for the journey, and for the perilous days that lie ahead...as they will soon fade away as a dream, and seem like nothing when we make it home. So we can also sing, When I die, hallelujah by and by...I'll fly away. (To be with my Lord and Savior FOREVER AND EVER)

I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before

Posted on May 4, 2021 by Mike M

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

In the late 1970s when I heard I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before it was just a pretty song, albeit sung by one of my favorite groups, The Rambos. Now, it means so much. When you were young, Maybe you are young now, did you think something like, “Well I want Jesus to come back, just not right now. I want to get married first, raise a family, enjoy life?” I did. My former pastor once asked, “Who all wants to go to Heaven?” None of us raised our hands. He seemed stunned. Another person shouted, “We thought maybe you were getting a bus load ready to leave.” Humor aside, we do have the pull of this world on us, and the love of family. Even though we have faith to believe in Jesus and Heaven we still have a sense of the unknown. So we want to go to Heaven, just not yet.

As we grow older we start to lose people close to us, friends, parents, spouses and even children. Those that were Christians have gone to their eternal home, the one promised by Jesus Himself. Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also (John 14:1-3). The life we longed for, hopefully we enjoy it, but we realize that even in the best of times while we are happy we still face trials, conflicts, sickness. Sin constantly corrupts this present world. All around us the world is exploding with evil, just like in the days of Noah Genesis 6:5). The entire Earth, our current home, is corrupted (Genesis 6:11-12). Truth is, this isn’t our home.

Are you homesick yet?

God has put the thought of eternity in our hearts as told in Ecclesiastes 3:11, He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world [eternity] in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. Truth is, as Christians, if we are really one, inwardly we yearn for Heaven. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:1-8).

You may not yet be homesick but there will come a day you will be. Trust the Lord to take you Home.

Dottie Rambo wrote I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before in 1977; copyright by New Spring, a division of Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing (ASCAP).

There’s a light in the window,
The table’s set in splendor.
Someone’s standing by the open door.
I can see the crystal river,
I must be near forever,
And I’ve never been this homesick before.

Chorus: See the bright light shine, it’s just about home time.
I can see my father standing at the door.
This whole world’s a wilderness, and I’m ready for deliverance.
Lord, I’ve never been this homesick before.

I can see my family gathered,
Sweet faces so familiar.
Oh, but no one’s old, or feeble anymore.
This old lonesome heart is crying,
Soon I’ll spread my wings for flying,
And I’ve never been this homesick before.

I have changed the version he shared, for this one which is much more reverent, and sung from the heart. Quieter, softer, and more meaningful. I hope you'll enjoy.