I had long struggled with Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7. Why did he refer to Abraham and Joseph and Moses, but only mentioned David very briefly, and nothing of Joshua and Samuel?

Then I realised; Stephen answered the allegations made against him. The Sanhedrin heard ‘false witnesses’ say: “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

The phrase ‘this holy place’ betrayed a misunderstanding of the Old Testament. The holy place was, in reality, wherever God was present with His people; Abraham in Mesopotamia, Joseph in Egypt, Moses in the desert. The people had become obsessed with ‘this holy place.’ In the words of Stephen, they ‘always resist the Holy Spirit’ (v51). Their focus was entirely wrong – a land, Israel; a city, Jerusalem; a building, the temple. Actually God calls us to know Him through Jesus Christ. Location is not a problem.

The people that Stephen referred to, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, enjoyed God’s presence and blessing outside ‘this holy place.’ We might add Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego to this list; they knew the presence of the fourth person in the furnace, one ‘like a son of the gods.’ Under God’s sovereign influence, Mordecai and Esther similarly introduced the feast of Purim across a pagan empire (Esth 9.29-32).

Jesus sent His followers, the Twelve and the Seventy (Luke chapters 9 and 10) as sheep into the midst of wolves. He instructed them not to expect a warm welcome everywhere. Yet the message of life and hope is delivered to draw many to Christ.

The expectation from this chapter is that (1) the people of God will expect to find themselves in a hostile situation and (2) the people of God will bring blessing into that environment.

Many Psalms clearly refer to us approaching God in His dwelling place, or communing with the ‘saints.’ But others relate to our interaction with the world around us, the world to which we do not belong. By ‘the world,’ I do not mean the physical planet on which we live, but human-kind, living in ignorance of God, or in rebellion against God. This is ‘the world’ that God so loved (John 3.16). It is this world which is foreign to the Psalmist and to those of us who read the Psalms.

We belong first to the kingdom of God; we recognise its principles take precedence over those of the kingdoms of this world. Reading Psalm 119.49-56 in light of this conflict and then perhaps the entire psalm. This stanza mentions ‘my suffering’ (v49), ‘the arrogant’ (v51), ‘the wicked’ (v53): even among the people of God, many did not live as the people of God. So the Psalmist finds himself, as it were, in a foreign land, amongst his own people.

His practice, habit, routine, in response was to obey (v56).

Many of the Psalms are written in explicitly hostile situations. Psalms 52-54 are good examples of this. They show the reaction of the godly to the ungodly. In Psalm 52, this is an individual, namely Doeg. Psalms 53 and 54 refer to the ungodly more generally.

Psalm 52.8-9, David refers to the house of God and the company of the godly. Whatever our challenges, we will find strength amongst God’s people, and an opportunity to give testimony and hear testimony.

One theme is of victory and confidence. The Christ-follower is not to fear the hostile environment. The steadfast love of God endues all day (v1). The righteous shall see (the defeat of the wicked) and fear and even laugh at him (v6).

What started as slaughter (Doeg had killed the priests; see 1 Sam 22) led here to a declaration of victory.

Psalm 53 describes more generally the depravity of mankind. The apostle Paul picks this up in Rom 3.10-18. Naturally, each of us is corrupt in every aspect of our person; our speech, our thoughts, our ambitions, etc. Yet, as the psalmist concludes, salvation will come; God will restore our fortunes. We will rejoice and be glad.

Psalm 54 was written when David was fleeing from King Saul. The king, who was supposed to uphold God’s ways, setting an example for the people, had departed from these ways and sought to kill ‘the man after God’s own heart.’

Sometimes the hostile environment is personal. But God remains ‘my helper’ (v4). The conclusion is deliverance and victory (v7).

Psalm 119.19 says; ‘I am a stranger on earth.’ These words introduce, within the longest of the psalms, a theme of conflict. The follower of God finds himself in a hostile environment. In such an environment the word of God remains our guide. It is striking that the previous verse, familiar to many, refers to ‘wondrous things’ found in the law of God. Here is our stronghold against the in-coming unhelpful influences.

I realised that:

• Most of the Bible is written by, or to, or about, those following God in a context that is hostile to their faith.
• A huge emphasis of the Bible is to equip God-followers to live well in this hostile world.

I have therefore written a series of articles under this title: ‘stranger on the earth.’ I do not consider myself an expert, nor a success.

In the famous chapter on heroes of faith (Hebrews 11) the writer refers to those men and women as “strangers and exiles on the earth” (v13). Each one lived away from ‘home,’ expressing their heroic faith in an environment hostile to that faith.

The apostle Peter addresses Christians with similar wording, “strangers in this world” (1 Peter 1.1).

Might this contribution be a blessing to walk in those shoes and be counted along with the great cloud of witnesses!