An Invitation

Jeremiah 3:12-15 NLT

Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the Lord says: “O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever. Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to listen to my voice. I, the Lord, have spoken! “Return home, you wayward children,” says the Lord, “for I am your master. I will bring you back to the land of Israel — one from this town and two from that family— from wherever you are scattered. And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding.

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Stephen Lawhead writes novels of historical fantasy fiction that move me. In his series The Celtic Crusades he describes a character named Padraig, who is a Welsh Monk on a journey to the Crusades in Jerusalem. During that journey he explains two powerful related but nearly opposite Welsh words or ideas. 

" taithchwant as the affliction of wanderlust — “that gnawing discontent which drives a man beyond the walls of paradise to see what lies over the next hill, or to discover where the river ends, or to follow the road to its furthest destination.”

It is only equaled by the hiraeth; “the home-yearning — an aching desire for the green hills of your native land…for the sound of a kinsman’s voice…for the food first eaten at your mother’s hearth…and therefore,” he concludes, “We are forever pinched between the two most formidable cravings men can know...”~ pp. 217-220, Iron Lance

In 1757 when the non-conformist Pastor Robert Robinson was only 22 years old he penned these words found in the loved hymn Come Thou Fount,

 Let that grace now like a fetter, 
Bind my wandering heart to Thee. 
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, 
Prone to leave the God I love; 
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Lawhead, Robinson, and the prophet Jeremiah all possessed an  understanding of our profound propensity to leave home and wander.

The wanderer, more like runaway, more like treacherous traitor is forgiven and welcomed home by God.

God is calling you home!

And you don't have to worry because of all the debt you owe ; everything has been forgiven. Jeremiah writes that God says he is merciful!

Come home, where there is love, forgiveness, and a welcome!

Come home to God your Father!

Come home to where you belong!

Leave the burdens, entanglements, fears and the sin that has weighed you down and come home.

God says you are welcome at home.

Come home.