Goodness in the Land of the Living, Not Only in the House We Hope For

There is a particular kind of waiting that many families know well. The land is bought but the foundation is not yet poured. The mortgage application is in, and the phone stays quiet. The children are growing out of the shared bedroom faster than the savings account is growing. You tell yourself that life will properly begin when the house is finished.

David knew uncertain seasons far worse than a delayed build. Psalm 27 was written by a man with enemies close by and reasons to be afraid. Yet near the end he says, in the New International Version: “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13).

Notice where he expects to see it. Not only in some distant heaven, and not only once his troubles are settled. In the land of the living. In the here and now, among ordinary days.

The danger of postponed gratitude

It is easy to treat the present home as a waiting room. The rented apartment with the stubborn door lock, the family house where three generations share one bathroom, the small board house on the hillside that you plan to replace one day. We hold our thanks back, as though God’s goodness only counts once the tiles are laid and the title is in our name.

But goodness is already turning up. It is in the neighbour who lends a ladder when the gutter blocks. It is in the rain barrel that filled just before the lock-off. It is in the evening when everyone is home at once, crowded round a small table, laughing about something the youngest said at school. David’s confidence was not a denial of trouble. It was a decision to keep his eyes open for God in the middle of it.

One thing he asked for

Earlier in the same psalm, David says the one thing he seeks is to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, to gaze on His beauty (Psalm 27:4). For all his talk of enemies and armies, his deepest longing was for a dwelling place with God.

That puts our own house-hunting in perspective. There is nothing wrong with wanting a secure roof, a yard for the children, a place to host family at Christmas. Scripture honours those desires. But no house, however well built, can carry the full weight of our hope. When we ask a building to give us peace, security and identity, we ask too much of concrete and steel. The home we most need is the presence of God, and that is available in a rented room as surely as in a finished villa.

Wait, and be strong

The psalm closes with advice rather than a promise of speed: wait for the Lord, be strong, take heart, and wait (Psalm 27:14). Waiting is repeated, as if David knew we would need to hear it twice.

Waiting well has a practical side. It might mean continuing to save steadily even when the target seems far off. It might mean not rushing into a loan you cannot comfortably carry because the delay has become unbearable. It might mean building one room properly rather than four rooms badly. Faith and prudence are not opposites. Often the strength David speaks of looks like patience with a budget.

It can also mean tending the place you have. Paint the one wall. Plant the callaloo. Fix the hinge. Treating your present home with care is a quiet way of saying that God’s goodness is here already, not only somewhere ahead.

Keeping a record

One family kept a notebook on the kitchen shelf during the two years it took to finish their house. Every time something went right, they wrote it down: the block delivery that arrived on time, the mason who came back to correct his own mistake without charge, the cousin who helped with the roof on a public holiday. When the house was finally blessed and they moved in, they read the notebook aloud. The finished house was a joy, but the notebook was the real testimony. Goodness had been there the whole way.

For reflection

• What signs of God’s goodness can you name in the home you live in today, before anything changes?
• Are you asking a future house to give you something only God can give?

Lord, open my eyes to Your goodness in this place, in the land of the living. Give me patience in the waiting and wisdom with what You have placed in my hands. Let this home, whatever its size, be a place where You dwell. Amen.

Follow Jamaica Homes on Youtube @jamaicahomes and Instagram @jamaica_homes and on Facebook @jamaicahomesnews Send us a message or email us at onlinefeedback@jamaica-homes.com or editor@jamaica-homes.com