Song Highlight: Far Country

This week, our song of reflection was "Far Country" by acclaimed singer/songwriter Andrew Peterson. In this week's sermon, which focused on the rest of Genesis 15 (verses 7-21), we discovered that God's promises are not always fulfilled in the timetable that we expect.

You see, God had promised Abram the land of Canaan back in chapter 12 when he called Abram out of Ur. And God reiterated that promise repeatedly. But when Abram finally arrived in the land of Canaan, he saw more people groups than I have the space to type here (check verses 19-21). Understandably, Abram was concerned by the presence of these peoples, and he asked God, "O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess [this land]?"

This is where Abram learned a very important truth: He would not live to see the fulfillment of this promise. In verses 13-16, God explained that there would be four hundred years of sojourning and suffering before Abram's offspring would inherit the promised land. Thus, while Abram was faithful, he would not experience the fulfilled promise for himself. Like his descendants, he would live his life in the hope of this promise. Abram lived in the in between.

In the same way, we live in a world that is in between the promise and its fulfillment. God has promised in his word to restore this broken world and establish a new heaven and a new earth. We too live in anticipation of this promise not yet fulfilled. We long for our true home...our heavenly home. We acknowledge that, like Abram, we are sojourners in a far country. The more we look at this world around us, the more we yearn for the promised land that is not yet here.

The song "Far Country" touches on this sentiment with the lyrical richness and spiritual sensitivity characteristic of the music of Andrew Peterson. As we meditate on this song, let our hearts dwell on the faithfulness of God. We know from scripture that God's promise to Abram did come true. Thus, we also know that his promised return will one day come. Let that be our hope as we live in this far country.

You can listen to the song below.

Lyrics:

Father Abraham, do you remember when
You were called to a land, and you didn't know the way?
'Cause we are wandering in a foreign land
We are children of the promise of the faith

And I long to find it
Can you feel it too?
That the sun that's shining is a shadow of the truth

This is a far country, this is a far country
Not my home

In the dark of the night, I can feel the shadows all around me
Cold shadows in the corners of my heart
But the heart of the fight is not in the flesh but in the spirit
And the spirit's got me shaking in the dark

And I long to go there
I can feel the truth
I can hear the promise of the angels of the moon

This is a far country, it's just a far country
Not my home, not my home

I can see in the strip malls and the phone calls the flaming swords of Eden
In the fast cash and the news flash and the horn blast of war
In the sin-fraught cities of the dying and the dead
Like steel-wrought graveyards where the wicked never rest
To the high and lonely mountain in the groaning wilderness

We ache for what is lost
As we wait for the holy God
Of Father Abraham, oh, Father Abraham

I was made to go there
Out of this far country
To my home, to my home

This is a far country, it's just a far country
Not my home, oh, Father Abraham
And I long to go there

FYI - Andrew Peterson is releasing a new album called Counting Stars on July 27th, 2010. If you'd like more information about the music of Andrew Peterson, click on the following link.