Hidden Treasures of Psalms 119: Verse 19 - The Stranger Needs A Map

Hidden Treasures of the 119th Psalm.

So we are going on a treasure hunt and the gold we are seeking in this treasure hunt is actually the face of God, pure light. So join us taking this deep dive mining with King David in the 119th Psalm. Today's mining expedition is so rich in so many different ways as we get into verse 19 which reads in the King James Version, I am a stranger in the earth, hide not thy commandments from me. Well there is a clue here to me to much of the life that I have lived because that word stranger, in Hebrew, is quite significant. As you may know the story of the Jews is quite often that they have been considered strangers. And so when we look at that word in Hebrew, stranger, you know obviously or maybe not obviously but like all the verses in the gimel section it is going to start with the letter gimel. So this one is gar and you might even remember that in the case of Moses' son that his name was because he was born in a strange land, his name was Gershom which again you can hear that g sound and that same r that is in the gimel and the rage that is in this word that means stranger.

The first time you see that in Genesis is when Abraham is getting told that his people are going to be strangers in the country that is not theirs for 400 years and they are going to be persecuted. So it is nothing like being strange and I don't know about you but we live in a strange world like I don't know, I have no understanding of our economy, I have really no understanding of our government, I certainly have no understanding of our election process. And so I feel like I am a stranger and that leads to a lot of difficulty in life and so to tell the story the way I look at it is when I was young my father worked for Buick Motor Division and so we were transferred every two years kind of like a military brat. So we moved back and forth across the country from California to Illinois and all these different places. Actually one time when I was in third grade, the end of third grade we moved from California to Naperville, Illinois which is right outside of Chicago but actually San Jose, California to Naperville, Illinois. And so clearly as I came into this new school in fourth grade as somebody from California walking into a place around Chicago it was completely different. It was completely foreign to me and my biggest problem was in California we wore blue jeans and pullover shirts and I had moved from Colorado to California where we also had worn blue jeans and pullover shirts. But in the Chicago area, in the Naperville area those boys wore dress slacks and Oxford shirts and so immediately I stuck out like a sore thumb and oh my goodness did I get picked on. Oh my goodness, the teachers didn't even like me, in fact my fourth grade teacher told my mother I don't know that Robbie will ever, ever even get into high school.

You may want to put him in a special school because he really can't learn. And so the concept of grace is when you're people's favorite. Well when you're different you're not necessarily going to be a lot of people's favorite. And this is what King David is saying is he's a stranger. So maybe you've been a stranger at some point in time, you've moved to a new town, you didn't know which way to go, what to do, you need a map. And inside this, what King David is saying here to us in the Kimmel section is Lord, I need a map in order to make my way in this very strange world. And he's asking very specific that, you know, that he's given this map because he said don't hide your mitzvah, don't hide your commandments, which again this is the word mitzvah.

Quite often they're good deeds but they're things like to tithe or to not glean the edge of your field. Those particular type of commandments are going to help him navigate in this strange world that we're in, right? And to an extent this particular verse is sort of a hint to the whole journey of the 119th Psalm or maybe the whole journey of life because the way it works is we're starting out at a place and we're trying to get to heaven just like the Pilgrim's Progress, you know, we're like, you know, John Bunyan described his character Christian or as we do in Christian car guy theater valiant, we're trying to find our way to the celestial city and it would be really helpful to have a map. Well, one of those directions, one of those streets to take clearly King David understands is these mitzvahs, is these commandments that are in God's word that describes specifically things to do with our tithes and offerings and that really to an extent the way we love one another. Well, don't be surprised if you're like me and you feel like you stick out like a sore thumb because you're so much different because as you start this journey with God, you are going to be on a different road and you are going to stick out someone like a sore thumb but actually it may seem like it's a difficult thing but it ends up being a beautiful thing because if you're on the right road, you can help other people get on the right road but if you're on the wrong road, unfortunately, you tend to lead other people towards the wrong road. So here's the thing, Lord, I'm a stranger on the earth, hide not your command, hide not your mitzvah from us. So here in the gimel section where clearly that's a foot, you can see this traveler, this idea of the sojourner, the people that are strangers in the land. That seems to be a way that God is going to prove us and improve us for the celestial city. So Lord, give us a map, don't hide your mitzvahs from us.