Psalm 119:19
I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me! Psalm 119:19
I love when the topic of “sojourning” comes up in the bible. My family is a family of sojourners.
My family roots go back to the French Wars of Religion between Catholics and Huguenots, the Deportation of the Acadians (Déportation des Acadiens), the American Revolution, the War for Texas Independence, and the Civil War. Each of these historical events and the associated economic impacts caused my family to move, which eventually landed me where I am today.
I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!
This verse speaks the gospel to my heart, to my very identity. I am a sojourner on the earth. God’s Word is saying to me, nowhere that you find yourself will you feel at home. He is taking my identity and stamping eternity into it. For the remainder of my earthly life, I will feel a longing for home; for somewhere else.
And the answer is found in His commandments.
The answer to my longing and my sojourning is not more culture (past, present, or future). The answer is found by being in a relationship with the one who is the author of all cultures. I do not need to focus on leaving an old culture and embracing a new culture. Ultimately, I need to embrace His commandments and the issue of culture will fall away.
My identity is found in Jesus. I was dead in my trespasses and sin. I have been bought at a price. My life is not my own. I am alive in Christ. I need God’s commandments to teach me how to live as a new creation while being conformed into the image of the Son.
I am not an educated man. I am not smart enough to navigate these things on my own, nor was I designed to. So, I humble myself and follow the lead of Jesus who points me to the Father and through the Holy Spirit I walk by faith. Just as God carried those before me through immense tragedy, so will He, in His faithfulness, carry me into eternity.
