This is the final blog on the hymn, “This is My Father’s World.” So far, we have looked at being able to rest in the thought that our father is in control, that he still speaks and that although it looks as if evil is winning our God still rules.

This week’s verse talks about walking the desert alone. We all know what that feels like, don’t we?  Let’s look at what the poet, Maltbie Davenport Babcock, thought about during his time alone.

This is my Father’s world. I walk a desert lone.

In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze, God makes His glory known.

This is my Father’s world, a wanderer I may roam

Whate’er my lot; it matters not,

My heart is still at home.

Babcock says that as he walks the desert alone that God makes his glory known in a “bush ablaze.” He could be referring to the beautiful colors found in nature, but I think he is alluding to the story of Moses and the burning bush.

Exodus, chapter three tells us that Moses was on the far side of the wilderness when he saw the burning bush. The bush was the place that Moses met God and received his instructions to go to the Israelites. God reassured Moses of that he would be with him as he went.

Babcock continues this verse by saying that wherever he roams and whatever is going on in his life that his heart is still at home. We may want to stop and say but this world is not our home and that our hearts shouldn’t be settled here. I think what Babcock is trying to convey is that his heart is not settled in this world but with his father who created this world. Home is not a place it is a person. Home is with the Father.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that there is nowhere we can go to get away from the presence of God? Just as he showed his glory to Moses in the burning bush, he lets us know that he is with us and that our hearts are safe at home with him.

I hope that if you feel as though you are walking the desert alone today that you can see the beauty of our father’s world and know that he loves you. Give him your heart, trust him to guard it, and you will always have a home. You will never be alone.

“I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.” (1Timothy 1:12) (NIV)