Songs of Ascent
Psalms 120 to 134 are called Songs of Ascent. They were sung by pilgrims going to Jerusalem for the three annual feasts they were required to attend. They also present a picture of the pilgrimage each believer must experience in this life.
This psalm represents the beginning of our journey. We recognize our sinfulness and that of the world we are living in and pray to God for deliverance.
As our faith grows we take our attention off of the world around us and focus on God. Our circumstances may not have changed but they no longer bother us because of our faith.
The thoughts of the Jews were centered on Jerusalem, their destination. Our thoughts need to be centered on our destination, the heavenly Jerusalem. We must put its interests ahead of our own.
We are called to a life of service to God. We need to always be alert to what he wants us to do.
We are constantly under attack by God’s enemies. He will protect us and help us escape from them.
As the mountains surround and protect Jerusalem, we are surrounded and protected by God.
We are often sorrowful now but this will lead to rejoicing in the future.
By ourselves we can accomplish nothing. We must have God’s help in order to succeed in anything.
If we fear God we can be sure that our future will be blessed.
We might have to endure persecution now. A time is coming when our persecutors will be repaid for what they are doing.
Our sins are great but God’s grace is greater. We must be patient and wait for God to deliver us from this sin-filled existence.
We need to stop relying on our own knowledge and adopt the kind of faith a little child has.
David’s zeal to make a place for the ark is an example we should follow in our service to God. God rewarded David by promising that his throne would endure forever. He will reward us if we obey as faithfully as David did.
We will experience close fellowship with other believers.
The end of our pilgrimage. We will spend eternity in God’s presence worshiping him and being blessed by him.
Posted on January 30, 2020, in Bible study and tagged Christian living, Jerusalem, pilgrimage, psalms, songs of ascent. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Beautiful, Clyde.
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I love these Psalms
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