A stranger in the earth

Ps 119 v19

I am a stranger in the earth do not hide your commandments from me.

Strange choice of words, not a stranger on the earth like most of us would say, but in the earth. It conveys that I am in the midst of the earth, in the middle of life, an earth-bound life. With all my earthly concerns earthly business to attend to with all the important matters of life which is happening to me. The verse in the earth Includes all the emotions in my experience and the events which take place around me as I am in the earth.

Yet, "I am a stranger". The Psalmist is detached from all of his earthly business. He feels that none of it really feeds his heart and relates to him. Life is happening in and around him but his heart is not in it. The heart of the psalmist is not focused on the earth. Its as if he is a detached observer - watching everything happen but His heart lies elsewhere.

His prayer is "do not hide your commands from me".

As the messiness of life happens O God do not let life obscure your voice, your directions your commands, your truths which I meditate on. Make it plain to me O God because life has a way of obscuring your voice and your revelations and your directions. These are the things which anchor the psalmist as he is in the earth. He focuses on God who feeds and nourishes Him. 

His soul is "crushed with longing for Your commandments at all times".

God and His world and His voice, The psalmist finds to be more relevant to Him, indeed more needful for the psalmist in his life in the earth. The heart of Psalm 119 is its second verse, "How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart." He lays hold of the invisible God to keep him anchored in a messy world.