4). Recognising the brevity of a man's life on this earth, in comparison with God's, he prays that he may be restored and given a little more time before his life is finally over so that he can make good use of it.
Hear my prayer, O YHWH,
And give ear to my cry,
Hold not your peace at my tears,
For I am a stranger with you,
A sojourner,
As all my fathers were.
Oh spare me, that I may recover strength,
Before I go hence, and am no more.
The idea behind these words is that the earth is God's, and we enter into it but briefly, as though we were mere immigrants with only a short time to dwell on the earth, before finally going on our way from here and being no longer on it, God being the only One Who has permanence here.
This idea of being a sojourner is applied by Abraham to himself (Genesis 23:4), by Moses to all Israel, considered as the feudal subjects and dependents of YHWH (Leviticus 25:23) and by David to himself and his contemporaries (1 Chronicles 29:15). All saw themselves as just ‘passing through'.
Thus he prays for the restoration of his strength so that he might fulfil his days on earth, before he must finally depart from it. He wants to be able to make the best use of the time he has left. The Psalm gives no indication of what lies beyond (unlike, for example Psalms 16:11; Psalms 17:15; Psalms 23:6), but it does exude a confidence and faith in God that is in line with those ideas. He simply rests his hope in God. Peter applies this idea of the ‘stranger and sojourner' to the Christian as he goes through life towards his heavenly home (1 Peter 2:11).