Morning, March 16
Go To Evening Reading
“I am a stranger with thee.”
Psalm 39:12
Yes, O Lord, with thee, but not to thee. All my natural alienation from thee, thy grace has effectually
removed; and now, in fellowship with thyself, I walk through this
sinful world as a pilgrim in a foreign country. Thou art a stranger in thine own world. Man forgets thee, dishonours thee,
sets up new laws and alien customs, and knows thee not. When thy dear
Son came unto his own, his own received him not. He was in the world,
and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. Never was
foreigner so speckled a bird among the denizens of any land as thy
beloved Son among his mother’s brethren. It is no marvel, then, if I who live the life of Jesus,
should be unknown and a stranger here below. Lord, I would not be
a citizen where Jesus was an alien. His pierced hand has loosened
the cords which once bound my soul to earth, and now I find myself
a stranger in the land. My speech seems to these Babylonians among
whom I dwell an outlandish tongue, my manners are singular, and my
actions are strange. A Tartar would be more at home in Cheapside than
I could ever be in the haunts of sinners. But here is the sweetness
of my lot: I am a stranger with thee . Thou art my fellow-sufferer, my fellow-pilgrim. Oh, what joy to
wander in such blessed society! My heart burns within me by the way
when thou dost speak to me, and though I be a sojourner, I am far
more blest than those who sit on thrones, and far more at home than
those who dwell in their ceiled houses.
“To me remains nor place, nor time:
My country is in every clime;
I can be calm and free from care
On any shore, since God is there.
While place we seek, or place we shun,
The soul finds happiness in none:
But with a God to guide our way,
’Tis equal joy to go or stay.”