Strangers and Sojourners

Strangers and Sojourners

(No. 3234)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1911.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
NOVEMBER 5, 1863.

"For I am a stranger with You, and a sojourner, as all my fathers
were." Psalm 39:12.

IF you read the whole verse, you will see that David used these words
as an argument in prayer–"Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my
cry; hold not Your peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with You, and
a sojourner, as all my fathers were." It is a grand thing to be able to
argue with God in prayer! Faith grips the Angel of the Covenant, but it
is by well-grounded arguments that we will wrestle with Him until we
prevail. Expectancy puts in the wedge, but it is solid argument that
drives it home. When we want to obtain any mercy from the Lord, we must
support our plea by reasons drawn from His Nature, His promises and the
experiences of His children as recorded in His Word. Martin Luther was
a great master of this holy art of arguing with God in prayer, as was
the Apostle Paul and, therefore, their supplications were not presented
in vain. Let it be so with you, also, Beloved–besiege the Throne of
Grace with the most powerful arguments you can find in the heavenly
armory! Lay hold upon the arm of Omnipotence and say to the Lord, as
wrestling Jacob did, "I will not let You go, unless You bless me."

I. It is, however, the argument that David used, rather than the prayer
that he presented, upon which I want to talk to you at this time. So
first, I ask you to notice that DAVID WAS A STRANGER AND A SOJOURNER,
AS ALL HIS FATHERS HAD BEEN BEFORE HIM. A stranger is a person who is
away from his home. And a sojourner is one who only stays in a certain
place for a short time and then must be up and away. Such is a true
Christian. In what respects is he a stranger?

First, he is a stranger in his position. He is not in his native
land–he is a freeman of the New Jerusalem. He sings–

"Im but a stranger here, Heaven is my home! Earth is a desert dreary,
Heaven is my home! Dangers and sorrows stand Round me on every hand–
Heaven is my fatherland, Heaven is my home!"

While we are here in the body, we are absent from our nearest and
dearest relatives. You know how Jesus taught His disciples to pray,
"Our Father, who are in Heaven." Our Elder Brother has gone Home before
us to prepare the many mansions in His Father's house for our eternal
abiding place. Many of our Brothers and Sisters in Christ have already
joined the general assembly and Church of the First-Born which are
written in Heaven. 'Tis true that we have many very dear relatives
here, but they, also, are strangers here even as we are–pilgrims to
the Celestial City that lies beyond the river! Our true possessions are
not here. We own no property in this world. We have had certain things
lent to us for use while we are here, and we have to give an account of
how we use them, but we must leave them all behind us when we go Home.
We brought nothing into this world and we can carry nothing out of it.
Our inheritance is above–an inheritance which is undefiled, and that
fades not away–which we are to share with Christ, for we are
joint-heirs of it with Him! Our treasure is where our heart is and both
are now before the Throne of God on high in the keeping of Christ–unto
whom we have committed them until that day when we shall be with Him
where He is and shall behold His Glory! "Here have we no continuing
city, but we seek one to come."I know that there are tender
associations connected with our earthly homes and loved ones, yet how
often are the ashes of our family hearth quenched by the tears of grief
while the

black pall of mourning hangs over those who have been taken from us?
Ah, no, this is not our home! Our native land, our true country is in
the heavenly highlands where Jesus dwells! And we long for the time
when He shall say to us, "Come up here." Then, but not till then, shall
we be at Home with the Lord!

Next, we are strangers, not only in position, but in character. When an
Englishman crosses over to France, he is quickly recognized as a
stranger and a foreigner. And a true Christian is not in any place long
before it is discovered that he is of a different nationality from them
by whom he is surrounded! His pedigree is not the same as that of
worldlings– they are of their father, the devil, and they do his
works–but he has been "born-again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides forever." God
is now his Father, for He has "begotten him again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." His manners, too, as
well as his pedigree, are not like those of worldlings. If an
Englishman goes to the Continent and tries to pass himself off as a
German or a Frenchman, he is soon detected. And, in a similar fashion,
a true Christian reveals the fact that he is an alien in this world–
his ways and manners and customs are not those of the men of the world
who have their portion in this life. He has obeyed that great Apostolic
command, "Be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the
renewing of your mind." There is also something in a Christian's speech
which shows that he is a stranger in this world. He has a peculiar
accent which the worldling cannot imitate. Even when a Christian speaks
wrongly, he is speedily detected. Peter denied with an oath that he
even knewJesus of Nazareth, but those that stood by were not deceived
by his swearing, for they said to him, "Surely you, also, are one of
them, for your speech betrays you."

The reason of all this is because there is an essential difference
between the nature of a Christian and the nature of a worldling–the
worldling is of the earth, earthy. But the Christian is no longer a
mere natural man, for he has had a higher and spiritual Nature imparted
to him! Indeed, he has been made a partaker of the Divine Nature! The
worldling seeks the things of the world, but the spiritual man seeks
the things of the Spirit. That which came down from Heaven returns back
to Heaven and, just as fire seeks the sun, the great central source of
light and heat, so the new spirit within the Christian seeks God,
Christ, the Holy Spirit and things eternal, heavenly, and Divine! I say
again that there is an essential difference between the nature of a
Christian and the nature of a worldling–you cannot make a true
Christian into a worldling and you cannot make a worldling into a
Christian! A natural man must be born-again before he can become a
Christian–and then he will not be the same man that he was before, but
a new creature in Christ Jesus!

Further, being strangers in this world, we must expect to be treated as
strangers by the world. Worldlings cannot understand us, just as the
people in a foreign country cannot understand an Englishman who can
only speak his native language. He is a stranger in a strange land and
so is a Christian in this world. When the Lord Jesus Christ was upon
this earth, the great mass of the people could not comprehend Him–He
was a stranger in the very world which He had made! And the world knows
us not because it knew Him not–and the more we are like He, the less
will the world to able to comprehend us. The carnal mind knows not the
things of the Spirit "because they are spiritually discerned." We must
not marvel, therefore, Beloved, if our motives are misconstrued and our
words wrested and twisted–and we are slandered and abused. We are like
the pilgrims passing through Vanity Fair–and if we did not receive
such treatment as they received, we might begin to suspect that we had
become like the citizens of that country and were no longer pilgrims
bound to Zion!

Further, we are in our hearts, strangers to the world. Wherever a true
Englishman wanders, his heart always turns towards his native land and
he says–

"England, with all your faults, I love you still"–

and when once again he sees the hoary cliffs of old Albion, his heart
leaps within him, for he is glad to be back in the dear homeland! I
have traveled through many lands and I can appreciate their beauties,
but, after all, "there's no place like home!" So is it with the
Christian. He has various interests and occupations here and he seeks
to be a blessing in the land where he is for a while, a sojourner, but
his heart is with Christ in Heaven–and he can never be fully satisfied
until he is there, too! An Englishman abroad is often hard to please.
He, thinks, sometimes very foolishly, that there is nothing as good as
what he has in his fair island home! But a Christian knows that
heavenly things are infinitely preferable to the things of earth! He
has long since learned that there is nothing here to satisfy his
immortal spirit and his heart is always anticipating the time when he
shall be at Home with his Lord and find in Him all that his capacious
soul can wish.

Certainly, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we ought to be strangers to
the world in our conversation. When we are in a foreign country, we are
very cautious where we go, for we do not feel as safe as when we are in
our own land where we can ask our way and easily understand the
directions given to us. When we try to bargain with the foreigners, we
are not

certain whether they are cheating us and, certainly, the Christian in
this world has many who are attempting to cheat him–not merely for
time, but for eternity, too! That arch-rogue, Satan, is plotting
against him every day and all Satan' s legions are constantly seeking
to rob him of his holiness or of his peace of mind–or in some way or
other to lead him astray. So be on your guard, Christian, as you
journey through this foreign land! You are in an enemy's country, a foe
may be lurking behind every hedge, a fiery dart may be shot at you from
every bush! Keep your sword unsheathed, ever have ready for use that
two-edged "sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God," and hold as
with a death-grip the great "shield of faith wherewith you shall be
able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." The great adversary
of your soul will attack you just at the moment when you think yourself
most secure, so "be sober, be vigilant"–always obey your Master's
command–"What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." Strangers in a
foreign land should have their wits on the alert and Christians in this
world should have their graces in active exercise! If they do not, they
will bitterly regret their folly and sin.

Yet further, we are strangers as to our supplies. When we go on the
Continent, we do not expect the people living there–the hotel-keepers,
shop-keepers, and so on, to pay the cost of our travels, board and
lodging, and to buy for us anything that takes our fancy! No, we take
with us as much money as we think we shall need, or drafts that we can
cash at a foreign bank. And if we find that we have not sufficient
funds, we send to England for more, for we are absolutely dependent
upon our home supplies. Just so is it in spiritual matters with the
Christian–he knows that he must not look for a single lump of coal
from earth's mines to keep alight the fire of his piety–he must depend
upon God for everything. Like the Israelites, he is in a howling
wilderness that can yield him no supplies of corn–and his bread must
drop from Heaven day by day, or he will starve. He is in an desert not
watered by any river where he can quench his thirst–all he has to
drink must flow from the struck Rock, Christ Jesus. Everything he has
must come directly from his God! His eyes must always be lifted up to
the hills, from where comes his help–his help comes from the Lord, who
made the heavens and the earth!

And, to close this part of the subject, the Christian is a stranger as
to the short duration of his sojourn in this world. Thank God we are
not to be here long. Though the days of our pilgrimage should be
seventy, or eighty, or even 90 years, how swiftly they come to an end!
No weaver's shuttle flies so fast as does the life of man–and the
Christian who dies the soonest is all the earlier in Heaven! The worker
for Christ who gets his service finished first, receives his reward the
sooner. [It is remarkable that this Sermon, taken in the regular order
of the unpublished manuscripts, should be first available for reading
on the last Sabbath in January, just 19 years after Mr. Spurgeon's
Home-going at Mentone, a little before midnight on January 31st, 1892,
at the age of ffty-seven! The Sermon intended for reading that day,
#2241, Volume 38–A STANZA OF DELIVERANCE, was the second of only two
which the beloved preacher had been able to revise during his last long
illness. The other one was #2237, Volume

38–GRATITUDE FOR DELIVERANCE FROM THE GRAVE.] Instead of dreading

Death, and bidding him depart from us, we might rather beckon him to
come for us! Come quickly, blessed messenger, to summon us to the
Presence of the King! Come, chariot of fire and horses of fire, and
take the servant of the Lord to be forever with his gracious Master and
Savior! Of course, I am saying all this in complete subservience to the
will of God. He knows the best time and way to end our earthly service
and, after all, it matters not when and how we go Home to Heaven! And
if we "are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord," we "shall not
prevent (or have any preference over) them which are asleep. For the
Lord, Himself, shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ
shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so
shall we always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with
these words."

II. Now, secondly, notice that DAVID WAS A STRANGER WITH GOD–and so is
the true Christian. The

worldling is a stranger to God, but the true Believer in Jesus is a
stranger with God–and there is an eternal difference between the two!

What is the meaning of the sentence, "I am a stranger with You"? I
think it means, first, that although we are strangers in the world, we
are constantly under God's eyes and care. "The eyes of the Lord are
upon the righteous and His ears are open unto their cry." Beloved, you
are always under Gods discerning eyes. He searches you, tries you and
sees if there is any wicked way in you–and leads you in the way
everlasting. You are all constantly under Gods protecting eyes. You
know what He said of old concerning His vineyard–"I the Lord do keep
it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it
night and day." Further, you are continually under Gods directing
eyes–"I will guide you with My eyes." You are also always under Gods
pitying eyes. "Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities
them that fear Him." You, too, are never absent from Gods providing
eyes. One of the Lord's most precious names is Jehovah-Jireh, which
means, "The Lord will see, or provide." And you are perpetually under
God's delighting eyes. He says to you, "You shall no more be termed
Forsaken; neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate: but you
shall be called Hephzibah, and your land, Beulah, for the Lord delights
in you, and your land shall be married."

Further, that sentence means that although we are strangers in the
world, we enjoy peculiar fellowship with God. The Apostle John says,
"Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus
Christ." We are not strangers to God, for, like Enoch, we walk with God
in hallowed and intimate union and communion. He has told us some of
His greatest secrets, for "the secret of the Lord is with them that
fear Him; and He will show them His Covenant." He has given us the high
privilege of dwelling in the secret place of the Most High and abiding
under the shadow of the Almighty! He has brought us into His banqueting
house and His banner over us has been love. And we have had such
rapturous fellowship with Him that we understand what Paul meant when
he said that he was "caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable
words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."

The sentence "I am a stranger with You," also means that, although we
are strangers in the world, God, too, is a stranger. It is passing
strange, yet is it strangely true that God is a stranger in His own
world! Here is His handiwork all around us, most fair and beautiful,
yet the fool says in his heart, "There is no God," and proves himself
to be a fool by saying it! Here are signs on every hand of the working
of God's gracious Providence–mysterious but wondrously wise–yet
worldlings cannot see any traces of the finger or mind or heart of God,
for He is a stranger to them! And as God is a stranger here, we need
not marvel that we, who are His children, are also strangers on the
earth–

"Behold what wondrous Grace

The Father has bestowed

On sinners of a mortal race,

To call them sons of God!

' Tis no surprising thing

That we should be unknown–

The Jewish world knew not their King,

Gods everlasting Son."

I think I see my gracious Lord and Master wandering through this world
as a Stranger, "despised and rejected of men; a Man of Sorrows, and
acquainted with grief–spit upon, scourged, hounded out from among men
and, at last crucified "outside the gate." Then, when we "go forth unto
Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach," we are strangers with Him
and what higher honor than that can any of us ever desire? "The
disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is
enough for the disciple that he is as his Master, and the servant as
his Lord."

There is another thought that I must not leave out. It is this. Though
we are strangers in the world, we are with Christ all the while. Where
is the true Christian' s life? Paul answers the question in writing to
the Colossians–"If you then are risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. Set your
affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead
and your life is His with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in Glory." Christ is
the Christian's All-in-All, so what can there be belonging to the
Christian that is left here on earth? Why, nothing at all that need
trouble us for a moment for, "God, who is rich in mercy, for His great
love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has
quickened us together with Christ, (by Grace you are saved) and has
raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus." Representatively, we are in Heaven even now–and where
our Head is, there will all the members of His mystical body be
gathered in due time.

III. Now, lastly, IF WE ARE STRANGERS AND SOJOURNERS HERE, WHAT THEN?

First, it is clear that we must have a home somewhere. "Foxes have
holes, and birds of the air have nests," and shall the immortal spirit
of man have no home? God forbid! We could not be called strangers and
sojourners unless we had a native land somewhere! A man who is an alien
in one country, is a citizen of another, so we who are strangers and
so-journers here, are citizens of a better country, even a heavenly!–

" There is a happy land, Far, far away"–

which is my true Home and there, in God' s good time, I know that I
shall be–

"No more a stranger or a guest, But like a child at home"

Do you think God would make us so dissatisfied with this world if He
did not mean to satisfy us with another and a better one? Surely not!
The very fact that we are strangers and sojourners upon the earth
proves that we have a country of our own that is very different from
this wilderness-world through which we are passing!

This being the case, it is not surprising that we sometimes long to get
Home. We ought not to long for Heaven from any lazy motives. A good
workman may be so tired with heavy toil that he eagerly looks forward
to Saturday night so that he may enjoy his Sabbath rest and renew his
strength for fresh service on the morrow. And you and I, Beloved,
though we are not tired ofour Master's work, are often tired in it, and
we shall be glad when our rest day comes. Thank God, it is not to be
six days' work, and then one day's rest, but it is to be a rest that
shall know no end–a rest in untiring service! "There remains therefore
a rest (a Sabbatismos, an eternal keeping of Sabbath) to the people of
God." I said that it is not surprising that we sometimes long to get
Home. You would not think that a boy loved his home if he never longed
for the holidays to come. I recollect that when I was at
boarding-school, I made an Almanac with a square for every day and I
blotted out each one as it went by–and sometimes I blotted it out the
night before so that I might seem to have fewer days at school! And,
Christian, you, also, may rejoice as the days of your school training
here pass, for, as each one flits by, you are "a day's march nearer
Home."–

"Though in a foreign land,

We are not far from home.

And nearer to our Home above

We every moment come."

Do you not also think, dear Friends, that the fact that we are
strangers here should make us treat one another well? And surely, if
the worldling knew Christians better, he would treat them better. They
are strangers to you, Man, but they are God's strangers! They are royal
personages incognito, princes of the blood imperial travelling through
this world to their wondrous palaces above! But let us who are fellow
pilgrims and strangers help one another all we can. If you are in
Switzerland, or up the Rhine, and have got into some difficulty or
trouble, if you see an Englishman coming, you feel pretty sure that
your fellow countryman will do what he can to help you. It should be so
with Christians! We are strangers in this world, so let us aid one
another all we can. We are soldiers in an enemy's country, so back to
back and shoulder to shoulder let us face the foes that are all around
us! Though we are strangers to the world, we are not strangers to God,
so let us not be strangers to one another, but let us be of one heart
and mind, walking in love, even as Christ loved us and gave Himself for
us.

Then, next, surely we ought never to envy the lot of sinners. I never
grudge horses their corn or the swine their husks and hog-wash. Then
why should I envy sinners? I remember David's words, "Fret not yourself
because of evildoers, neither be you envious against the workers of
iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as
the green herb." When a friend once gave Martin Luther a large sum of
money, he stood at the Church door and gave it all away to the poor
because, he said, he had made up his mind to have his portion in the
next world–and not in this. There is nothing in the sinner's lot,
either here or hereafter, that you and I have any cause to envy! And
let us never murmur at our own lot–

" The road may be rough, but it cannot be long!

So lets smooth it with hope, and cheer it with song." There are you, my
poor Brother or Sister, fretting about what you will do in six months'
time, worrying about the rent, the fire, food, the clothing and I know
not what! Yet it may be that before even this year ends, your head may
be wearing the crown and your fingers sweeping the golden harp strings,
and you yourself–

"Far from this world of grief and sin,

With God eternally shut in!'

And if you are still here for a while, the Lord will provide for
you–so cast all your care upon Him who cares for you!

So, lastly, what an easy thing it should be for a Christian to die! He
is a stranger with God even here, but he will be with God, and not as a
stranger up there! He has been with God in life, and God will be with
him in death–

"Strangers into life we come,

And dying is but going Home" And going Home is not hard work. Going
Home is not a thing to be dreaded–rather should we sing in joyous
anticipation of it, as so many of our dear Brothers and Sisters have
done when they have actually reached the hour of their Home-going!

Yet, alas, there are some here who may well dread their Home-going, for
they are strangers to God, "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without
God in the world." O Soul, if that is your condition, do not remain a
stranger to God a moment longer! Repent of your sin and trust God to
forgive it for Jesus sake! "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you
shall be saved." And then, though you will be a stranger, here, you
will not be stranger up there where He is! God bless you, for Christ's
sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: PSALM39.

This Psalm gives a description of David's experience and conduct when
stretched upon a sickbed. He appears to have felt impatience working
within him, which I am sorry to say is a very common disease with most
of us when God's hand is heavy upon us. Yet David struggled against his
impatience. Though he felt it, he would not know it, lest he should
thereby open the mouths of his enemies and cause them to speak evil of
his God. Let us imitate his restraint if we resemble him in the
temptation to impatience.

Verse 1. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my
tongue. This government of the tongue is a most important part of our
ways. It is a very essential part of holy discipline, yet we have heard
of one saint who said that he had lived for 70 years and had tried to
control his tongue, but that he had only begun to understand the art
when he died. David said, "I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not
with my tongue."

1. I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked are before me.
They have such quick ears and they are so ready to misinterpret and
misrepresent our words–and if they can find one word awry, they will
straightway preach a long sermon over it! So let us muzzle our mouths
while they are near. The ill words of Christians often make texts for
sinners, and thus God is blasphemed out of the mouths of His own
beloved children! Let it not be so with any of you, Beloved.

2. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my
sorrow was stirred. We all know that unless our grief can find
expression, it swells and grows till our heart is ready to break. We
have heard of a wise physician who bade a man in great trouble weep as
much as he could. "Do not restrain your grief," he said, "but let it
all out." He felt that only in that way would the poor sufferer's heart
be kept from breaking. David determined that before the wicked, he
would have nothing at all to say, and though his griefs were surging
within him, yet for a time he kept them from bursting out.

3. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing, the fire burned:
then spoke I with my tongue. He could not hold his peace any longer–it
would have been well if he had done so, for he uttered an unwise prayer
when he spoke with his tongue–

4. LORD, make me to know my end. That is what you and I are apt to say
when we get into a little trouble–we want to die and get away from it
all! We say that we long to be with Christ, but I am afraid that it is
often only a lazy wish to share the spoils of victory without fighting
the battle–to receive the saints' wages without doing the saints' work
and to enter into Heaven without the toils and dangers of the pilgrims'
way! Perhaps this has been the case with us, sometimes, when we have
thought that our aspirations were of the best and holiest kind. When
David prayed, "Lord, make me to know my end," his prayer was not a very
wise one, but the next sentences were not quite as foolish–

4. And the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I
am. Oh, that we could all know how frail we are! But we reckon upon
living for years when we have scarcely any more minutes left! We think
our life's hour-glass is full when the sands have almost run out. And
although the hand of God's great clock may be upon the striking-point,
we think our brief hour has but just begun!

5. Behold, You have made my days as an handbreadth. This is a very
common measure, the breadth of the human hand–and David says that this
span is the measure of his life. Some here must surely have spent a
great part of that handbreadth–let them and all of us be prepared to
meet our God when that short span's limit is reached!

5. And my age is as nothing before You. It is an incalculably tiny
speck when compared with the immeasurable age of the Eternal! "My age
is as nothing before You." When Alcibiades boasted of his great
estates, the philosopher brought him a map of the world and said to
him, "Can you find your estates on this map?" Even Athens, itself, was
but as a pin's point! Where, then, were the estates of Alcibiades?
Nowhere to be seen! So when we see the great map of eternity spread

out before us, where is the whole of this world's history? It is but a
speak! And where, then, are your life and mine? They are as nothing
before God!

5. Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Then what
must he be at his worst state?

6. Surely every man walks in a vain show: surely they are disquietedin
vain. [See Sermon #2346, Volume 40–earth's vanities

AND HEAVEN'S VERITIES.] They fret, and fume, and flurry, and worry–and
all about what? About nothing! We sometimes say, "It will be all the
same a hundred years hence." Ah, but it will be all the same much
sooner than that when the six feet of earth shall be all our heritage!

6. He heaps up riches, and knows not who shall gather them. "Do you
think," says an old writer, "every time you lock up your money in a
box, how soon death shall lock you up in your coffin?" Some men seem to
be like our children's money-boxes into which money is put, but they
must be broken before any can come out! To some men, how sad must be
the thought that they have been accumulating wealth all their days, and
they know not for whom they have been gathering it! A stranger may,
perhaps, inherit it–or if their own kith and kin shall get it, they
may squander it just as thoroughly as the misers hoarded it!

7. And now, Lord–If all earthly things are nothing but emptiness–

7. What do I wait for? "I wait for nothing here, for there is nothing
here to wait for."

7. My hope is in You. Ah, this hope makes life worth living! Now that
we hope in God. Now that we know that there remains another and a
better world than this world of shadows, life is invested with true
solemnity!

8, 9. Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach
of the foolish. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because You did it.
It is always a blessed reason for resignation when we can say of any
bereavement or affliction, "The Lord has done it." Shall He not do as
He wills with His own? Then let us say with Job, "The Lord gave, and
the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

10-12. Remove Your stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of
Your hand. When you with rebukes do correct man for iniquity, you make
his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity.
Selah. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not Your
peace at my tears. Tears have always had great prevalence with God.
Christ used these sacred weapons when, "with strong crying and tears,"
He prayed to His Father in Gethsemane, "and we heard in that He
feared." Sinner, there is such potency in a penitent's tears that you
may prevail with God if you will come to Him weeping over your sin and
pleading the precious blood of Christ! Your tears cannot merit Heaven
or wash away your sins, but if you do penitently grieve over them, and
trust in the great atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, your tearful
prayers shall have a gracious answer of peace! Mr. Bunyan describes the
City of Mansoul as sending Mr. Wet-Eyes as one of her ambassadors to
the Prince Emanuel–and he is still a most acceptable ambassador to the
King of kings! He who knows how to weep his heart out at the foot of
the Cross shall not be long without finding mercy. Tears are diamonds
that God loves to behold!

12. For I am a stranger with You, and a sojourner, as all my fathers
were. "I am not a stranger to You, O my God! Blessed be Your holy name,
I know You well, but 'I am a stranger with You.' You are a stranger in
Your own world, and so am I. The world knows You not, and the world
knows me not. And when I act as You act, the world hates me even as it
hates You."

13. O spare me, that I may recover strength before I go hence, and be
no more.