When You Feel Like You Don’t Belong Here
Do you ever feel like you are not at home here on earth? That the world’s gone crazy and you just can’t wrap your mind around it all?
There’s a reason for that…this is not your home. C. S. Lewis said, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in the world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
Solomon reminds us, “He (God) has planted eternity in the human heart,” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT). We were made for eternity, for glory, and as long as our feet are here on this earth, we will experience a glory ache that only heaven can fully satisfy. We will feel a certain something missing that may be hard to define, but we know something’s just not right.
One Spring, our family hosted a ten-year-old Russian foreign exchange student. He went to school with my son and got a taste of what the American Christian family is all about. Alex’s English was very limited, and we depended on hand signals and facial expressions to get by.
On one occasion, I was trying to get him to write a letter to his parents. I pulled out the stationary, handed him a pen, and pointed to a picture of his mother and father. “Why don’t you write a letter to your parents,” I suggested. He had no idea what I was talking about.
For twenty minutes I drew pictures and tried to get him to understand what I wanted him to do. Finally, with tears in his eyes, he looked up at me and said, “What do?”
I just hugged him and put the pen and paper away.
Oftentimes I feel like our little foreign exchange student. I see beauty mingled with pain and suffering and wonder…what do?
I watch the nightly news, and sit perplexed…what do?
I feel close to God but not close enough, and I cry…what do?
I see glimpses of God’s presence, but the ache never quite goes completely away, and I look toward heaven and pray…what do?
Then God reminds me that I am not home yet. I am an alien and a stranger in this world in which I temporarily live (1 Peter 1:2, 2:11). My citizenship, your citizenship, is in heaven and we are just passing through this wonderful, very fleeting point in time and space we call life. This world is but a hallway to heaven.
Another translation of Ecclesiastes 3:11 reads, “He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy],” (AMP).
Not until we see Jesus face-to-face will the lingering glory ache completely subside. I can almost hear the collective “ahhhh” that is sure to come when we believers exhale our last earthly breath and inhale eternity for the first time.
For years I read 1 Corinthians 2:9 and wondered just what God had planned for me here on earth. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.” My nearsightedness kept these words earthbound. Not once did I consider that God could have been speaking of all that He has planned for me in eternity…until now.
But through this study of what glory is all about—balm of sudden glories that brim from living in sacred union—I have come to realize that total healing of the ache will come when I finally make it home. The door upon which I have been knocking all my life will finally swing open when I step into eternity.
But until then the glory ache will not go away completely, for we see as through a glass dimly. The dull throb of “homesickness” will remain until we see Him face-to-face and experience the joy of His presence in unrestricted ecstasy. Until then, God gives us glimpses of glory here on earth.
A sunset that takes your breath away.
A moment of peace you can’t explain.
A whisper of His presence in the middle of the ordinary.
Little reminders of where we’re headed.
We want to live in a constant state of awe, but we can’t. Our human limitations won’t allow it. Our minds, our bodies, our emotions couldn’t contain it. The circuitry of our humanness would overload.
So I stand in the cleft of the rock with Moses as God holds His hand over my face and allows me to look at His back as His glory passes by (Exodus 33:18-23). How I thank Him for moments of sudden glory that tide me over until I’m finally home.
What do?
Until we’re finally home, let’s look for glimpses of the majestic among the mundane, the heavenly Maestro’s music among the mayhem, and the magnificent glory woven through all creation.
Heavenly Father, this world is so confusing. I watch the news, listen to conversations, and observe strange behaviors…all the while thinking this is not my home. Thank You for glimpses of glory that tide me over until I am finally home. I love You, Father God. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
What is one thing about heaven that you’re looking forward to the most? Leave a comment and let’s share.
I’ll go first. I’m looking forward to seeing my parents and having a long chat.
Digging Deeper
Do you long to experience more glory moments in your life? Moments when God makes His presence know and you know…with
out a shadow of a doubt…that it is Him speaking to you? Then this book is for you. Discover how to erase the line between your “spiritual life” and your “daily life” as you enter the sanctuary of God’s presence in the middle of your busy, messy day! Here you will find your eyes opened to moments of sudden glory in which the Creator assures you of His love as you live and move and have your being in Him. Also includes a Bible study guide. Click here to order your copies of A Sudden Glory: God’s Response to Your Ache for Something More.
