On My Way Up: A Summer Pilgrimage in the Psalms of Ascent | Psalm 134
Three times a year, all of Israel’s energy was focused on a joint pilgrimaging to a central location as the people of God, to be one with the people of God, praising God in the place of God. Those annual pilgrimages were purposeful, life-shaping and future-altering. Each aided their remembrance ofwho they were, infused hope for where they were and held out joy for where they were going.
Each pilgrimage added a new layer to who they were as a people. Each arrival was another entrance into the safe presence of God. Each time of praise and worship strengthened their bond with God as the Children of God.
I have connected with…
• the hardship and the struggle of the early pilgrimages.
• the fear of the moment counteracted by the assurance of God’s intervention.
• all of my hope being placed in one singular basket.
Today, I want to connect with the praise and the blessing of arrival!
The adage “life is hard and then you die” doesn’t tell the whole truth. The whole truth is “life is hard and God is our Rock, Refuge and Deliverer. Life is a good gift worth celebrating despite the hard. This life will indeed end, but that is not the end of life. Our dying breath here marks our eternal breath in heaven.”
Psalm 134 (NIV) 1 Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who minister by night in the house of the Lord. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord. 3 May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.
Praise is a total mind, body and spirit expression of adoration.
Praise as a response to being in the presence of God is both a spontaneous and learned behavior.
Worship and praise of God is counter fallen human nature; our fallen nature seeks praise for itself. Fallen human nature needs self-praise to fill the self-worth/value gaps.
Self-worth/value leaks. Human attention is only a sugar high, insufficient to satisfy the deep longing we have to be known and loved by God. Without God, we have to continue to perform for human attention and to keep it.
When our praise and worship are limited, we are limited, our experience with God is limited, our development in God is limited and others exposure to God is limited.
Psalm 134:3 (NIV) 3 May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.
The impact of a blessing is lost on Western culture. For Eastern cultures, a blessing wasn’t a sappy sentiment or a mere wish, it was a tangible release of divine power and authority that marked one’s identity and determined their future.
Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV) 24 “‘“The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’
Numbers 6:24-26 (Message) 24 God bless you and keep you,25 God smile on you and gift you,26 God look you full in the face and make you prosper.
Psalm 121 (NIV) I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Psalm 19:14 (NIV) May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Romans 12:1-2 (NIV): Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Each day when we engage God in praise and worship we experience His arrival and yet, we are still on a pilgrimage. Hard is still on the horizon but we are not alone. We pilgrimage to the Lord with the Lord and with one another.