Psalm 39:12 continued

Psalm 39:12 continued

Foreigners and strangers

Let’s explore the following statement of David’s a little more fully for it has something very profound to teach us and forgive the lengthiness of my explanation. “I dwell with you as a foreigner, a stranger, as all my ancestors were.” What does it really mean? What is David hinting at when he says that all his ancestors were strangers and foreigners? And is there not a verse somewhere in the New Testament that says the same thing about us?

Jacob talks about being a restless pilgrim in Genesis 47:9 when he says to Pharaoh in Egypt, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.” The early patriarchs were nomadic men, who travelled throughout their lives with no permanent resting place and nowhere to call home. They lived mainly in tents and the only stability they had was God Himself and the faith to believe that He was guiding their earthly journey. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all lived this way. Jacob’s sons settled in Goshen, in Egypt, for over 400 years but then it was up sticks time and off they went, under Moses’ leadership, until they entered and occupied the Promised Land, 40 years later. This nomadic lifestyle is summed up in Hebrews 11:13-16 where we read that these men, and their wives and families, admitted that they were foreigners and strangers on the earth. They did not return to their roots but kept moving, ever looking for their destiny by faith. Their longing was for a better country, but not an earthly one, a heavenly city where at last, they would no longer be strangers or foreigners. Hebrews tells us that the Lord God is the rewarder of such faith and has prepared them a heavenly country or city. 

In Leviticus 25:23 we find the Israelites taking instructions from the Lord about their occupation of Canaan – the Land of Promise. His words are very instructive, “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.” In other words, the people had now come to rest, but they were only tenants and the Lord was the landlord! David never forgot this. He would go on to conquer and develop that land like no one before or after him, but in 1 Chronicles 29:10-19 we read his prayer after all of the materials for the building of a temple in Jerusalem are collected and paid for. In verse 15 David says to the Lord, before all the people, “We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for our building you a temple for your Holy name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.” 

Why is this all so important? Well the Apostle Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2:11 “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your soul.” In other words, we are to adopt the same attitude as the patriarchs and King David. This world is not our home. What we have comes from the Lord. All human beings are no more than tenants and the Lord God is our landlord even if we do not acknowledge that fact. People are accountable for their use of His resources, to live as if He does not exist and that everything is ours is utter foolishness. As for you and I, we should adopt the same attitude as the patriarchs and not regard this world as anything other than a pilgrimage, we are just passing through. Our future and our destination is not on earth where we are strangers and foreigners, but in heaven where we will be accepted as the family of God. Peter was not the only one to think this way, Paul too has the same idea, recorded in Ephesians 2:19-22 where he talks about Jew and Gentile being brought together as one new man through the reconciliation power of the cross where all hostility has been put to death. “Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” This is a most amazing passage of Scripture. We are being told that the ancient Jewish patriarchs, Israel and we, the church of God, are now one. We have been brought together and there is no room for hostility between Church and Jew. Gentile Christians are not excluded from God’s family because He is intent on building a Temple, not one made of stone like King David’s, but a holy temple in the Lord. The true dwelling of God is not a man-made building at all, but a community of “joined together” people who are indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit. So, we may all be foreigners and strangers on earth but before the living God we are members of His household and Jesus Christ holds us all together. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!