Psalm 119 – Gimel

The third stanza of Psalm 119 looks at how the word separates those who obey it from those who don’t.  The psalmist starts with calling on God to help him obey the word by being good to him and opening his eyes to what the law says (v. 17-18).  Then he says that he is a stranger on earth (v. 19) – that obeying God’s commands makes him different than those in the world who don’t obey the Word.  He makes the distinction between those who obey and those who are arrogant and stray from God’s commands (v. 21) and his resolve to devote himself to the Word even when the world treats him with contempt and slanders him.

As we put our faith in God’s Word and devote ourselves to it, we become very different than those in the world around us – strangers because we become not like them.  The psalmist recognized that his devotion to God’s Word was causing those around him who didn’t share his desire to be arrogant and speaking against him.  We’re called to be counter-cultural, and while we shouldn’t bring opposition on ourselves through being hypocritical (saying we obey the Word when we don’t), we should expect opposition because our desire for the Word and our lives will be challenging to those around us.

As Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:19-20 (NIV):

¹⁹ Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Here, Paul says that in the church, where Gentile and Jew are united in Christ, we are no longer strangers – but notice what makes this possible:  the household of God is built on the foundation of the apostles (NT writings) and prophets (Old Testament), which all are built on Christ Jesus.  We need God’s Word to find the true place where we are no longer strangers, the church.  But among those in the world, we remain strangers, divided from them by our love for God’s Word.