On My Way Up: A Summer Pilgrimage in the Psalms of Ascent | Psalm 132
"Not that I am (I think) in much danger of ceasing to believe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about Him. The conclusion I dread is not 'So there's no God after all,' but 'So this is what God's really like. Deceive yourself no longer.'"
A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis
"Meanwhile, where is God?… go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside… Why is He so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?"
A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis
God's word is a revelation of who God is and His involvement in the creation and redemption of the world.
It’s written by people of all kinds, and in Scripture we see the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.
"But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed. You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust." — Psalm 89:38-39
"How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?" — Psalm 89:46
“Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked...” Psalm 89:50
The question the psalmist is wrestling with isn’t, “Is God real?” The question is, “Where did God go?”
Biblical hope is a confident and assured expectation of what God has promised. That confidence doesn't come from looking forward - it comes from looking back.
"For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." — Romans 15:4
Remember, O Lord, in David's favor,
all the hardships he endured,
2 how he swore to the Lord
and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 “I will not enter my house
or get into my bed,
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes
or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I find a place for the Lord,
a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Psalm 132:1-5
The first verse shows us two things:
The call to remember is evidence the writer feels forgotten. Just like the Psalm 89 writer calls out for God to remember him.
The writer is making a corporate appeal.
"Behold, we heard of it [The Ark of the Covenant] in Ephrathah; we found it [The Ark] in the fields of Jaar." — Psalm 132:6
Arise, O Lord, and go to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.
9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
and let your saints shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
do not turn away the face of your anointed one.
Psalm 132:8-10
As a member of the family of God, I have the privilege of looking to the testimony of those who have gone before me to remind myself that in spite of what my present may look or feel like, God is faithful.
Three truths to put our hope in:
1. God Remembers His People (and that includes you!)
"For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place: 'This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.'" — Psalm 132:13–14
Three truths to put our hope in:
2. God Keeps His Promises
“I will maintain my love to him forever,
and my covenant with him will never fail.
I will establish his line forever,
his throne as long as the heavens endure.” — Psalm 89:28-29
“You have renounced your covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust.” — Psalm 89:39
"Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David?" — Psalm 89:49
"The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: 'One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.'" — Psalm 132:11
At the time of Psalm 89 and Psalm 132, the throne was empty. The hope of the pilgrim was not in what they could see presently, but who they knew God to be historically.
"If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne." — Psalm 132:12
Three truths to put our hope in:
3. God Exceeds Our Imagination
"Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ…" — Acts 2:30–31
They asked: "Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness."
God said: "I will also clothe her priests with salvation."
They asked: "Let Your saints shout for joy."
God said: "Her saints shall shout aloud for joy."
They asked: "Do not turn away the face of Your Anointed."
God said: "I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed."
"I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread." — Psalm 132:15
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us". - Ephesians 3:20
I know who God has been, and because of that I know who He will be.
Where do we go from here?
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