Longing for home

https://odb.org/2026/05/21/longing-for-home-4

Psalm 137:1–6 (NIV): 1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.

Ethel and Ed live in the high desert area of the Rocky Mountains. As our family visited them on their ranch filled with memorabilia, the conversation turned to childhood stories of riding horses on the grasslands of North Dakota and herding cattle in Montana. They’re on in years now, and I could hear in their voices a longing for home.

Psalm 137 captures a similar emotion. The Israelites had been forced into captivity and longed for home. “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept,” they said. “There our captors asked us for songs” (vv. 1, 3), prompting the Israelites to ask, “How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” (v. 4). The longing to return from exile is a common theme throughout the Old Testament prophets. Eventually the Israelites did return. They rebuilt Jerusalem and resettled in the land, but it was never the same. When the temple was rebuilt, those who remembered its former glory wept because it was a shadow of the first (Ezra 3:12). (Matt Lucas, Our Daily Bread 21st May 2026)

I joined Astro in 2000 on a transfer from Usaha Tegas. I was attached to a department in Legal called International & Special Projects, which focussed mainly on cross border joint ventures as that was the major shareholder’s idea of having a cross Asia broadcast service. That is why although Malaysia has its own geo-orbit spot for its commercial satellites, MEASAT’s footprint covers a large chunk of Asia.

In my early years in Astro, I spent a lot of time in India, finalising joint ventures. As it was a 5-hour plus flight, we usually spend the whole week there and sometimes with a spillover to the next. Thus, I understand very well what it means to miss home. In those years, my elder son was still very young, he was a year 2000 baby and in 2003, we had our second son.

The stark difference however was that the Israelites in exile did not have the privilege to fly home after a week or two abroad. They were stuck in Babylon indefinitely as slaves taken into captivity after the Babylonians had overrun Israel (specifically, the northern kingdom of Judah). Historically, they eventually returned to Jerusalem after Persia invaded Babylon but spent a good 50 to 70 years in exile. For those who do not know, ancient Babylon and Persia are modern-day Iraq and Iran.

As we grow older, I guess some of us long for our younger days. Life in the 60s or 70s were simpler and I believe people were more inclusive, compared to the divisive polarising politics of today that is always playing to the gallery on racial issues. The pace then was slower. But of course we don’t want to relive the horrors of WW2 and the atrocities of the Japanese. For me, my days growing up in Sitiawan, Perak and later in Pasir Puteh, Kelantan are remembered as those easygoing formative years. For the latter, I always cherish the cooler weather and watching flood waters during the year-end monsoon season. 

Alas, we can’t move back time. Our bodies age and time waits for no man. Soon the cycle of life will repeat itself and it will be our time to say our final goodbyes. Modern medical advancements have extended our life spans but there is still just so much left of our remaining years.

Fortunately, for us believers of Jesus Christ, we know our destiny and destination. Our real home awaits us, like the Jews remembering Jerusalem by the rivers of Babylon. Some of us may already long for our eternal home, while others are still busy serving God in the church or working hard to carve out our piece of this world for the future of our families and loved ones. Whatever stage we are in life, the LORD wants us to know that we have a home in the new heaven and new earth. It is the mansion with many rooms that our Lord Jesus Christ has gone ahead to prepare a room with our name written on it. Our longing for home will be met one day. In the meantime, serve Him with all our heart, soul and mind!