I pray that as we conclude our study of the Psalms of Ascent, it will be the start of a lifetime of study and intentional pilgrimage for you. These fifteen Psalms mirror fifteen Temple steps up to the Holy Place, where the presence of the one true God chose to dwell amid his people.
These have been practical lessons of kingdom maturity because we grow up in Christ as we go up.
It matters greatly to him that you mature and conform to his image. More than calling yourself by his name, he wants you to disciple yourself to him. As I survey our progress, I am excited to see the breadth of wisdom from the Word of God these psalms have covered. Before we part, here is a brief overview to rekindle your memory and encourage you to press on.
Psalm 120
We saw that the pilgrimage begins with a deep desire, a longing to be close to God. The journey is not always easy, but the LORD, blessed be his holy name, responds to our faithfulness and persistence. As we go through valleys of tears (bacha), he turns them into valleys of blessing (barachah).
Deciding and committing to turning from the world’s comforts and contentments is necessary. With resolve, we leave the periphery of the Christian experience and head directly into God’s presence. Metaphorically, we set our eyes and hearts on the holy hill of Zion in Jerusalem, up to the Temple, and into the Holy of Holies.
Psalm 121
At the outset, we learn the vital importance of controlling our tongues and guarding our speech. Language is a gift with which we praise God and edify others.
We are also reminded that distress is real and faith is for seeing God at work in our present circumstances. We must learn to exercise that faith because it pleases God. We can, therefore, let distress fuel our desire for him because he is the source of our help. He watches over us and stands on guard for us. We must submit our strengths and weaknesses, learning to rely wholly upon him.
To reach the goal, we must simplify, which means we must focus our lives. We must escape from a scattered existence, from giving in to every impulse, desire, distraction, and stimulation. We must set objectives and goals and be intentional about our lives. We must reduce these worldly entanglements that beset us, repenting and confessing sins that entangle us—to move boldly forward in our journey.
Psalm 122
But remember, our journey is not a solitary one. It is one we make together. The greatest spiritual progress comes corporately, not in isolation. We are the household of God, the Body of the Messiah on earth. He is building us into a suitable habitation—being compacted together just like the city of Jerusalem. The saints are to be living stones, crafted together as a spiritual edifice for the presence of a Holy God.
Psalms 123-124
One of the hardest lessons of pilgrimage is learning to wait upon the Lord. We must show steadfast endurance. We must have a confident expectation that God will act on our behalf. We discovered that the greatest prayer of faith is: “Your will be done.” God has called us to servanthood, or said more radically, he has called us to slavery.
One of the most profound yet paradoxical spiritual truths is that true freedom only comes in slavery. You experience the liberty of being set free in Christ when you submit yourself wholly to serve him. Radical freedom comes only in enslavement to Christ. Only then can God do great things through us, just like he did with that humble slave Onesimus.
Psalm 125
We must learn the lesson of trusting in God to walk in that submission and continue maturing. Trust is not an aggressive expression of faith. It is a quiet assurance that says: “Relax, everything is going to be okay. Trust is not passive; it is radical confidence based on the character of God. You can depend upon him wholly because of what he says and what he does—because of his covenant faithfulness.
Psalm 126
God does act decisively to restore our exile, to turn the tide of our fortunes, and to deliver us from our enemies. To faithfully walk in the salvation he gives so generously by his grace, we must produce more in the kingdom than we consume. We must be Sea of Galilee disciples, not Dead Sea saints. What we take in, we give out for the life of others. And that means, at times, we will sow in tears, working and trusting that a harvest is coming.
Psalms 127-128
One of the emphases in our spiritual pilgrimage is giving the same priority God gives to families. Families are the first order of service; they are our first level of ministry. Marriage is holy unto God. And if we are to bear fruit physically and spiritually, we must prioritize the sanctity of marriage and raising children to his glory.
The home is a small temple where the Holy Spirit dwells. Like the home, the Lord is building up a spiritual house called the church as the bride of Christ. To do so, God is looking for those who fear him, which means those who stand in awe and wonder, resulting in a faith commitment to him and corresponding obedience. That is what leads to our lives being fruitful.
Psalms 129-130
Our walk with God is not all glory. To go from victory to victory is to go from battle to battle. But the testings and the trials we endure can be purposeful if your heart is set on pilgrimage. They can purify and prepare you for fuller service because they confront and challenge iniquity, that human tendency to morally bend away from God. Trials can foster humility and overcome iniquity (that which separates us from intimacy with God).
And so there is good news, says the psalmist: with God, there is forgiveness of sins! Even though there is iniquity in our lives, if we acknowledge it and turn from it, he is eager and just to forgive. And someday—on a cosmic scale—indeed, all Israel shall be saved.
Psalm 131
This shortest of the grouping is perhaps the longest of the psalms to learn in terms of the difficult lesson. The focus is on learning the lesson of humility, the supreme virtue of our pilgrimage. Humility is the wondrous vision that God is all in all—he is everything. By our own volition, we make ourselves low so that he may be lifted high.
We found that humility is not only the way into the kingdom but the way of the kingdom.
Humility is not weakness; it is his supernatural strength at work in us as we voluntarily submit our natural strength to his purposes. The way you progress in spiritual pilgrimage is the low way of humility. It is our moment-by-moment joy to respond to our Father, submitting to his authority in all things and obeying his will because he is our Creator, and we are the work of his hands.
The paradox here is that humility is actually the way of spiritual greatness. The Latin word for humility is humus, which means fertile soil. In the fertile soil of your humility, God raises a holy crop.
Psalm 132
The way of pilgrimage is the way of passion, as exemplified by King David. As we cultivate that passion by entering God’s presence, we find that his priorities become our preoccupations.
A passion for God means the passionate pursuit of his purposes.
God’s passion is to build his people into his church—to construct a suitable habitation where he can dwell. The key word is dwell (shachan), where his glory (shekhinah) comes and fills his people, his tabernacle.
If that is God’s passion, it should also be ours. We are to build up the church, be a living stone ourselves, and edify others as they are being built together. And as we do, we will come nearer the Holy One and find there is more than abundant provision, peace, prosperity, power, and purpose.
And so we rejoice over both the present and future kingdom of God. And we stand in awe that the secret place of the Most High God, where the ark dwells (so to speak), is in us. It is in your heart because only the heart of one made in God’s image and likeness is great enough to contain the glory of the Holy One of Israel.
Psalm 133
Unity, we learn, is very precious to our Father. His heart’s desire is that his people would be one—as he is one. We learn that humility comes with the awareness of our need to be forgiven, and unity comes when we forgive one another from the heart. It is in our emptiness that he becomes our everything.
His anointing empowers us for service when we are in unity and harmony.
These truths come to us with warnings. Without unity, there will be no kingdom blessings; without forgiveness, there will be no forgiveness.
Psalm 134
The awe-inspiring crescendo of these pilgrim songs reminds us that our high calling is to live as priests before the living God and his world! We all go up in unity—from every nation and language (Rev 5:9)—to that high and holy place to worship our God and serve him forever. And what does he do, in turn? He blesses us from Zion with his presence, the source of all true peace and prosperity.
No wonder this grouping of psalms is connected with the pilgrim festival of Tabernacles (Sukkot). Each year, it comes back around with opportunities for us to renew our pilgrimage commitments while working out these lessons in the fear of God and the joy of the LORD. We are spiraling upwards, my dear brothers and sisters, compelled by His Spirit, who has designed these highways in our hearts (Ps 84:4-5).
The LORD (our Father) bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace, in the Prince of Peace. Amen.
