Scripture: But not so on Mount Zion—there's respite there! a safe and holy place! The family of Jacob will take back their possessions from those who took them from them.  Obadiah 1:17 (MSG)

Observation: deliverance. Pictures a contrast between the fate of the mountains of Esau, where there will be destruction and slaughter, and the destiny of Mount Zion, Jerusalem, where there will be deliverance and holiness. [Andrews Study Bible Notes. 2010 (J. L. Dybdahl, Ed.). Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press.]

Application: The feelings for home have inspired expressions and songs that are commonly used and are very special to a lot of us.  “Home, Sweet Home.”  “For there’s no place like home for the holidays.” 

We all need a place to call home, a place to come back to.  The Prodigal Son felt that emptiness and regret and headed for home.  Joseph, in the Old Testament, longed for home.  The Israelites who were taken captive to Babylon and other lands wished to be home.  “Alongside Babylon's rivers we sat on the banks; we cried and cried, remembering the good old days in Zion.” Psalm 137:1 (MSG)

Those of us born in a faraway country miss the place where we grew up.  Some of us live far from family and friends, far from the food we ate, the places we visited, where we vacationed and had so many memories with those we loved.

But now we have our own family and we have the opportunity to build new memories with them.  We can travel together to faraway places or to the local attractions.  What’s important is not how much money is spent in the process but how much time you get to spend together.  It may not be a very expensive meal at some upscale restaurant but simply corn on the cob eaten in the back porch of your house.  But more importantly that any place you may visit is the loving, peaceful time spent with your family at home.  That’s why it is so important to provide for all in the family with a good, wholesome environment they can look forward to returning to.

For husbands, this is particularly important.  After battling with the world, we men look forward to coming home to a place where we can feel loved, where we can relax, where we can disconnect from what we have been dealing with all day.  It doesn’t mean that he can come home and do nothing while the wife takes care of everything – cooking, cleaning, the care of the children – while the husband simply watches TV.  What it means is that he doesn’t want to get home to a wife waiting with a list of complaints or chores for him to deal with.  Some men work longer hours just so they don’t have to come home to be faced with a nagging wife. “It's better to stay outside on the roof of your house than to live inside with a nagging wife.” Proverbs 21:9 (CEV)

Create at hope a place of respite, a place where the members will feel loved and comfortable, and a place where they will want to come back to.

A Prayer You May Say: Father God, help us to create in our home a place to come back to, a little foretaste of heaven.

Used by permission of Adventist Family Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.