Christians Are Strange; Psalm 119, Proverbs 22

May the mumbling commence!

People are strange.  Christians are strange, too.  Christians do not operate in the same was as other people.  They are strangers in the land… sojourners… resident aliens.  Open our eyes, O Lord, that we may see Your Way more and more clearly.  Help us to be strangers in the land.  Read from Psalm one-hundred nineteen the stanza dedicated to the Hebrew letter “GIMEL”:

Deal bountifully with Your servant,

That I may live and keep Your word. 

Open my eyes, that I may see

Wondrous things from Your law. 

I am a stranger in the earth;

Do not hide Your commandments from me. 

My soul breaks with longing

For Your judgments at all times. 

You rebuke the proud – the cursed,

Who stray from Your commandments. 

Remove from me reproach and contempt,

For I have kept Your testimonies. 

Princes also sit and speak against me,

But Your servant meditates on Your statutes. 

Your testimonies also are my delight

And my counselors. (Verses 17-24)

Open our eyes to Your bounty, O God of Hosts.  Your Word is wondrous and sure.  Use Your Word to guide us away from pride in our hearts.  Guide us forever on Your path.

Meditate on the Word of God and become stranger and more foreign to the world about you.  Delight in God – the Source of our hope and joy and bountiful spirit.  The counsel of the Lord will never lead us astray.

Open our eyes, O Lord.  Show us how and where to stand as followers of Your Way.  Give us courage to be stranger… to be foreign in a land of scarcity and fear.  We are resident aliens that know the way of plenty and hope.

And help us, O God, to know when we need to share our plenty so that everyone may have enough.  To share with others – that is a sacrifice that the Lord much desires from you and from me.  Read from Proverbs chapter twenty-two:

Do not rob the poor because he is poor,

Nor oppress the afflicted at the gate; 

For the Lord will plead their cause,

And plunder the soul of those who plunder them. (Verses 22-23)

Equitable sharing – now, that is alien in our land!

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out