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Another year has passed into the shadows; a new year has dawned, and before us stretches the unknown path to be trodden in the days, weeks, or months of its course. No knowledge of one future step, no insight into the future, do we need; but what we do know and what causes the heart to cease from troubling is that we are “going Home.”
How sweet the thought! What a chord of joy passes over the harp strings of the heart as we think upon the sure end of our path. Shadows may fall across it this year, sorrows unknown may come upon us this year, trials all unexpected may assail us this year, the fires of persecution may burn this year, many a stumbling step we may take this year; but there is One Who is ever near (Philippians 4:5), Whose face can be looked upon in the dark night when the winds are howling and waves are tossing high (John 6:18-21); upon Whom if we steadfastly gaze we can walk upon the waters at His bidding (Matthew 14:29); One Whose voice we can hear above the tempest saying, “It is I; be not afraid;” One Who, though He must gently rebuke us, rebukes too the winds and the sea, and a great calm comes over the tempestuous scene; it fills our own quaking hearts--lo! the peace of God, and the God of peace is with us.
What a Pilot, what a Saviour, what a Captain, what a Master sails with us in our ever onward course, “to the other side,” for we are “going Home!”
What a Home! The Father is waiting there. The Son Himself will put us into haven there, when at last even the faintest shadow will have passed, the last cloud on our sky will have come and gone, the last doubt, the last unbelieving thought, the last of our coldness and failure, the last of our stumbling steps, the last fold of the obscuring veil of time and sense will have been folded up, and in the never-to-be-dimmed luster of that glorious shore, “at Home,” we shall see Him in all His beauty, in all His glory--that Face once so marred for us, then seen in its proper glory, and seeing Him, we shall be like Him!
What a homecoming--Home! It speaks of rest, of comfort, of love, of fellowship, all with the Father and the Son--”See what love the Father has given to us …” (1 John 3:1 N.Tr.)
O beloved, you and I are going Home. Then, let us sing the songs of Home on our pilgrim way; and as strangers to all that does not belong to the holy, happy, circle of that Home, live with Him, live for Him, day by day. Thus would He be our Companion on this homeward journey, and so afford us foretastes of its blessedness.
J. Bloore
Heaven
My heart is bounding onward,
Home to the land I love;
Its distant vales and fountains,
My wistful passions move.
Fain would my fainting spirit,
Its living freshness breathe,
And wearied steps find rest, in
Its hallowed shades beneath.
No soil of nature's evil,
No touch of man's rude hand,
Shall e'er disturb around us
That bright and happy land.
The charms that woo the senses,
Shall be as pure as fair,
For all while stealing o'er us,
Shall tell of Jesus there.
What light! when all its beaming
Shall own Him as its sun!
What music when its breathing
Shall bear His name along!
No change, no pause, its pleasures
Shall ever seek to know;
The draft that lulls our thirsting
But wakes our thirst anew.
J.G. Bellett
Rise, He Calleth
"My heart is bounding onward,"
On to the Lord I love,
The voice of His love hath entered.
And lured my soul above.
"My love, my dove"—He speaketh—
How can my spirit stay,
When words like His have ravished
And borne my heart away!
"My heart is bounding onward,"
It may not linger here,
For the voice of my Beloved
Hath sounded in mine ear.
The spell of earth is broken.
For He hath won my heart—
And many a sweet love token
To me He doth impart!
"My heart is bounding onward,"
The glory lies before,
The sound of His footsteps cometh
The mountains of Bether o'er.
O haste Thee, my Beloved,
Ο haste—make no delay,
For my waiting spirit longeth
For Thine appearing day.
"My heart is bounding onward,"
For Thou hast looked on me,
And kindled an eager yearning
To gaze, my Lord, on Thee.
Oh! Jesus, Well Beloved!
For me Thou hast in store,
A rest upon Thy bosom,
A "going out" no more.
E. C. L.
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Matthew 6:21