I am a Stranger with You

“Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and give ear to my cry. Do not be silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You, a pilgrim, as all my fathers were.” (Psalms 39:12)

There is a question as to who the author of this psalm is. Jewish Talmud attributes it to Moses. Matthew Henry a renown Bible commentator attributes it to David. While others attribute it to Jeduthun who was a Levite and one of David’s chief musicians and thought to be one and the same as Ethan. Although verse 1 of this psalm indicates it’s a psalm of David given to Jeduthun to put it to music, there is this uncertainty. “To the Chief Musician, to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. I said, I will take heed to my ways so that I do not sin with my tongue; I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked are before me.”(Psalms 39:1) The psalm is relatively short, only thirteen verses. It begins with his desire not to speak in the presence of the wicked so that he wouldn’t sin. But he cannot contain himself but to speak out to the Lord in prayer in verse 4. He acknowledges the frailty and the smallness of man in the presence of God. (verses 4-6) He petitions the Lord for mercy for his sin and the punishment he is receiving. (verses 10-13)

In our Scripture of study, he pleads with the Lord to hear him and to respond to him. The agony and sorrow of his prayer is deep and felt in his words to the Lord. But in it is the hope that God hears him and the hope that God will respond to him. Whether it was Moses of David, both had a special relationship with the Lord God. They knew that God was merciful. The prayer is humble before a mighty God, yielding to His greatness.

The author uses the term “I am a stranger with You.” This was a common Old Testament term meaning separated or apart from. So, the author was telling God that he was separated from Him maybe because of his sin. This term was used several times. Rachel and Leah used this term when Jacob told them that they were to leave Laban, their faither. “And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children's: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.” (Genesis 31:14-16) What they meant is that their father had already separated from them. He had given them away. Job lamented, “Those who dwell in my house, and my slave-girls, count me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.”

(Job 19:15) This meant that they didn’t consider him a part of the household. David used this term also. “I have become a stranger to My brothers, and a foreigner to My mother's children.” (Psalms 69:8) In these examples we see that being a stranger didn’t necessarily mean one of another nation or race.

Another term that the author of Psalm 39 uses is pilgrim. In the Levitical Law, the land belonged to the Lord. It was not to be sold. “The land shall not be sold forever; for the land is Mine. For you are strangers and pilgrims with Me.” (Leviticus 25:23) A pilgrim was a person in a spiritual journey. That is what the Israelites were. They were in this spiritual journey with God, from Abraham on. When David collected materials needed for the building of the temple from the people, he prays before the people. “But who am I, and who my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things are from You, and we have given to You that which is Yours. For we are strangers before You, and pilgrims, as our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and none abides. O Jehovah our God, all this store that we have prepared to build You a house for Your holy name comes from Your hand, and is all Your own.” (1Chronicles 29:14-16) He mentions in this prayer almost word for word, “we are strangers before You, and pilgrims, as our fathers were,” meaning so separated from God because of His greatness and in a spiritual journey of serving Him as was Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Although because of our flesh, we are strangers or separated from our Father, we as Christians, followers of Christ and born again of God are not strangers in the spirit, but children of God through Jesus. “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26) We are also pilgrims. This life is a spiritual journey of growing in the Lord and becoming at each victory more in the image of Christ. “But we all, with our face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord Spirit.” (2Corinthians 3:18) The end of our pilgrimage comes when we are with the Lord, face to face.