A Sojourner 1/1-3/2017

01-03 January 2017 - A Sojourner – Manna by Dorothy Callies

David, the Psalmist said, “For I am a stranger with You, a sojourner, as all my fathers were.”—Psalm 39:12

On this earth, David felt like a stranger and a sojourner.  Sojourn means a temporary or short stay; to stay as a temporary resident. It is like you travel for a month at one place, then you go on and stop at another place to rest. Sojourner is a person who is always traveling, never really settled at one place.

Why does David felt that way even though he had a home in Jerusalem? David was crying out to God in prayer and David wondered how long he has to live on this earth. David was suffering and he prayed for strength to go on.  He knew his life was short.

David wrote that he felt like a sojourner just like all his fathers were … So Hebrews 11:8-10 explained that Abraham by faith, God called him to go to a place where it would become a future “Promised Land.”  So Abraham by faith, sojourned in the land of promise, in a strange country, the land of Canaan. 

Abraham looked forward for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.  Isaac and Jacob carried the same faith as Abraham.  Jacob in his dream had seen the New Jerusalem with ladder, angels of God ascending and descending from earth to heaven (Genesis 28:12). This speaks of Messiah’s reign during 1,000 years of peace.

And after new heaven and new earth, we will finally “be home” with the Lord as Abraham was looking forward to that. David, the Psalmist looks forward to “be home” with the Lord forever.  We, too are looking forward to that city of God.  It was also my mother’s favorite, “Like Abraham, I’m looking forward to the city of God.”

Dorothy: Why am I writing this?  My original families are in California, and other families are further away.  I am living in Illinois, as a missionary that God called me here along with Tony.  So Tony and I are sojourners, knowing our times are short and like Abraham, we are looking forward to that city of God.  [That’s faith, believing His Word.]

This devotion encourages me to look forward to that day, the city where the Lamb is the light.  In spite of many things that are happening all around us, God’s Spirit is inside of us, keeping that “Blessed Hope” in Him.  I found a beautiful inspiration song.

Song: In the City Where the Lamb is the Light

In that city where the Lamb is the light (beautiful light),

The city where there cometh no night (no more night);

I’ve a mansion over there,

And when free from toil and care,

I am going where the Lamb is the light.

(Lyrics: Herbert Buffum, Sing His Praise)

So let’s trust God today!