"There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home."
I've heard Judy Garland say these words a bazillion times in "The Wizard of Oz." At one point, it was my youngest sister's favorite movie. It was the point in her childhood when she wanted to read, watch and listen to her favorite books, movies and music over and over and over again. We used to immerse ourselves in the world of "The Wizard of Oz"--pretending to ride bikes along with the evil Miss Gulch and sing along with the Lollipop Guild. And we desperately wanted to float in a cotton-candy colored sparkly bubble like Glinda.
When you're a kid watching "The Wizard of Oz" for the first time or the 100th time, you don't fully grasp the significance of, "There's no place like home." When you're older, your definitions of "home" may change. Is home just a place? People you love? A feeling? A combination of all of those things?
In today's passage, God talked about home for His people. At this point in Scripture, His people rejected Him. As a consequence for their sin, they were taken into captivity--they were literally taken from home. However, in this excerpt, God prophesies the turnaround of Israel and Judah. I think His depiction of home describes more than land. Take a look:
In those days, at that time"—God's Decree—
"the people of Israel will come, And the people of Judah with them.
Walking and weeping, they'll seek me, their God.
They'll ask directions to Zion and set their faces toward Zion.
They'll come and hold tight to God,
bound in a covenant eternal they'll never forget.
"My people were lost sheep.
"My people were lost sheep.
Their shepherds led them astray.
They abandoned them in the mountains where they wandered
aimless
through the hills.
They lost track of home,
couldn't remember where they came from.
Everyone who met them took advantage of them.
Their enemies had no qualms:'Fair game,' they said. 'They walked out on God.
They abandoned the True Pasture, the hope of their parents.'
Wow. God's people were in bad shape. They didn't just lose land, cows and houses--they lost who they were. They lost purpose and a sense of their spiritual legacy. They didn't just need Google maps to find home--they needed God's direction and hope.
I love that later in this passage, God foresees something good:
But Israel I'll bring home
to good pastures.
He'll graze on the hills of Carmel and Bashan,
On the slopes of Ephraim and Gilead.
He will eat to his heart's content.
In those days and at that time"—God's Decree—
"they'll look high and low for a sign of Israel's guilt—nothing;
Search nook and cranny for a trace of Judah's sin—nothing.
These people that I've saved will start out with a clean slate.
Isn't that amazing? God didn't just envision His peoples' return to their cities--He saw a restoration of their hearts. And if home is where the heart is, finding a clean heart and the love of God's heart? There's no place like home.
Tomorrow: Jeremiah 51-52
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