Sojourners
This past Sunday, as I was preaching about the Abrahamic Covenant, how Abraham sojourned in Canaan, and the fact that he never saw the larger extent of the fulfillment of the promise God gave him, it reminded me of another verse by one of his great, great, great grandchildren, King David, which I highlighted long ago in my own Bible:
“For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers.” Psalms 39:12
Though a “man after God’s own heart,” King David was not a perfect man. As a matter of fact, in this psalm David expressed how he felt the heavy hand of God on his life (v.10) because he suffered the consequences of his mistakes (v.11). He knew that he needed forgiveness, humbled himself before God and repented. David always knew that the source of his hope, joy and his life altogether was God alone - “My hope is in you.” (v.7)
We know that David did not learn this at a late age, he knew it even in his youth. It was a firm foundation he kept coming back to when he sinned or wandered off too far. But there is something else here in David’s words, something that he sought from God that was meant to help him stay in a right relationship with God. It’s in the words, “make me know my end and what is the measure of my days.” (v.4) David wanted to have an awareness and a right perspective of how quickly his life was passing because he knew that in being aware of this, it would drive him to spend every day in right relationship with God. David understood that he was just a “sojourner” with God, “like all his fathers.” That means that God is the One who walks the full journey and that he, like all his ancestors before him, were only road companions each for a short part of the journey.
I love that perspective because too often in our modern day and age we act as if life revolves around us, as if God would fashion His plans around our lives, when in reality we are part of His plan, guests in His house, each with one lifespan to invest. God is the Owner of the house (2Timothy 2:20) and the Master of His vineyard (Matthew 20:1) and we as beloved children are invited to sojourn with Him, each invited to contribute our unique abilities and talents.
What a wonderful perspective and it might be as David desired, a cure for our selfish and egocentric thinking. With this in mind, I ask myself the question, would such a perspective change the way we think of things around us? Would it change something in our approach to problems we face or perhaps issues with other people? I want to believe it does. It takes away from the discontent when things don’t go our way and from the tireless chasing after ever more goals that really don’t matter at all. Instead, it gives us greater awareness of God’s Plan and of the fellowship of the Lord in our everyday life.
Let’s sojourn with Him and let’s strive to make our stay as guests in His house a pleasant one!
“For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers.” Psalms 39:12
Though a “man after God’s own heart,” King David was not a perfect man. As a matter of fact, in this psalm David expressed how he felt the heavy hand of God on his life (v.10) because he suffered the consequences of his mistakes (v.11). He knew that he needed forgiveness, humbled himself before God and repented. David always knew that the source of his hope, joy and his life altogether was God alone - “My hope is in you.” (v.7)
We know that David did not learn this at a late age, he knew it even in his youth. It was a firm foundation he kept coming back to when he sinned or wandered off too far. But there is something else here in David’s words, something that he sought from God that was meant to help him stay in a right relationship with God. It’s in the words, “make me know my end and what is the measure of my days.” (v.4) David wanted to have an awareness and a right perspective of how quickly his life was passing because he knew that in being aware of this, it would drive him to spend every day in right relationship with God. David understood that he was just a “sojourner” with God, “like all his fathers.” That means that God is the One who walks the full journey and that he, like all his ancestors before him, were only road companions each for a short part of the journey.
I love that perspective because too often in our modern day and age we act as if life revolves around us, as if God would fashion His plans around our lives, when in reality we are part of His plan, guests in His house, each with one lifespan to invest. God is the Owner of the house (2Timothy 2:20) and the Master of His vineyard (Matthew 20:1) and we as beloved children are invited to sojourn with Him, each invited to contribute our unique abilities and talents.
What a wonderful perspective and it might be as David desired, a cure for our selfish and egocentric thinking. With this in mind, I ask myself the question, would such a perspective change the way we think of things around us? Would it change something in our approach to problems we face or perhaps issues with other people? I want to believe it does. It takes away from the discontent when things don’t go our way and from the tireless chasing after ever more goals that really don’t matter at all. Instead, it gives us greater awareness of God’s Plan and of the fellowship of the Lord in our everyday life.
Let’s sojourn with Him and let’s strive to make our stay as guests in His house a pleasant one!
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