Psalm 122
Well, we
have finished the Gospel of John so it is now time to return once again to the
Psalms and finish reading this book as well.
If you remember back in the beginning of September, we last read through
Psalm 121. So today we pick up with
Psalms 122 and Psalms 123 and we’ll keep reading a psalm or two per day until
we finish. If you need to refresh your
memory as to what it means when it says a “song of ascents” please see the
first paragraph in my blog post for September 5th, 2012 on Psalms 120-121.
I cannot
help but be thrown into a quandary as I read through Psalm 122. This psalm is about valuing peace in
Jerusalem. Isn’t peace in Jerusalem a
hot topic these days? But then I also
remember what the name Jerusalem means.
The name means “foundation of peace.”
Listen to
what the psalmist says here. Where is
the focus of the psalmist as he ponders Jerusalem? The focus of the psalmist is on the house of
the Lord. That is very key to
understanding what the psalmist says here in this passage. Jerusalem isn’t special because it is geographically
located where it is. Jerusalem is
special because within Jerusalem is the house of the Lord. It is the presence of the house of the Lord
that causes Jerusalem to mean “foundation of peace.”
Hence … my
quandary. What is Jerusalem today? Jerusalem today is a hotbed of political
unrest. Jerusalem today is a city that
is being fought over in a political sense and is perpetually on the brink of
being fought over in a very militaristic sense.
Jerusalem today is anything but a foundation of peace. In this regard, I find Psalm 122:6 very
poignant: pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
However, I
also find it a bit amusing that so much energy is spent over a place. From the perspective of Christianity, God
dwells in us now. The Holy Spirit has
come within us. In Christ and through
His Spirit we understand the true meaning of the word Emmanuel – God with us. Jerusalem may be the foundation of peace, but
the truth is that the people who are fighting over the geography have missed
the boat! True peace can now be found
within! True peace comes from peace with
God. True peace comes from embracing the
Holy Spirit and allowing His ways to become our ways.
The
psalmist has the right idea – as much as he possibly could according to what
portion of God’s plan had been revealed to him centuries before Christ came to
this earth. Peace does come from the
presence of God. When God dwells among
us, we can be at peace with God. But we
do not need to rely on geography to know that truth any more. We are the temple of the Most High! The house of God is literally us! In a figurative sense, Jesus’ coming to earth
and accomplishing God’s will means that we are Jerusalem! We are the foundation of peace!
In that
sense, I do pray for peace in Jerusalem.
I pray that there will be peace within the walls of all of God’s
people. This psalm of ascent is to have
us focus on the importance of the presence of God. When we do that, we will have peace.
Psalm 123
As we turn
to Psalm 123 we have a psalm of ascent with a new focus: God’s mercy. I love this psalm for several down-to-earth
reasons.
First,
notice the servant-minded nature of the psalm.
We look to the Lord as a servant looks to the master. In order for us to know God’s mercy, we must
first acknowledge that He is the one who controls all the power. He is the master. His agenda reigns. We are the servant. We are the tools in His hand. This psalm asserts humbleness before God.
The second
reason that I love this psalm is because of its honesty. The psalmist has had enough of contempt. The ungodly demonstrate contempt for the
godly. The prosperous in the world scorn
the godly and our attempts to cast off the lusts of our heart and be
righteous. The popular show disdain for us
when we embrace a servant mindset and desire to focus on God. There is plenty of contempt in this world for
the genuine followers of God. I can echo
the words of the psalmist when he says that we have had enough of contempt.
There are
two ways out of the derision and condescension that the world has for us. The first way is by far the easiest way: join
them. If we give up God and adopt the
ways of the world, the world will stop holding us in contempt. However, this way is not the path I
recommend as it implies leaving God.
The second
way is to humble ourselves to God and wait for His mercy. Like the psalmist, we rely upon God’s
mercy. We wait for God’s mercy here in
this world whenever it comes. We hold
fast to God’s mercy and believe that in the life to come we will live even more
abundantly within His mercy. This path
is the harder path. This path is the
path that accepts the derision of the world.
This path is the path that leads to God.
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