Psalm 122
A song of ascents. Of David.
1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
2 Our feet are standing
in your gates, Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.
4 That is where the tribes go up—
the tribes of the Lord—
to praise the name of the Lord
according to the statute given to Israel.
5 There stand the thrones for judgment,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.
7 May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.”
8 For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your prosperity.
A Pilgrimage with the Psalms of Ascent - Worship
What brings you to church? What habits, guilts, desires, fears, or otherwise get you out of bed on any particular “Sunday”? Eugene Peterson says, “Psalm 122 is the song of a person who decides to go to church and worship God.” (A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, pg 49). I started choosing to go to church for two reasons: interest in a girl who went, and curiosity about the existence of God. After a couple of years the girl was no longer an interest, but twenty-eight years later I am more convinced than ever of God’s existence and our need to worship him. Unfortunately, worship, as we often talk and think about it, gets reduced to a feeling or a particular act, but Psalm 122 helps reorient us to what it means to be a people who rejoice at the opportunity to worship, and celebrate what it means to be a people who worship and pray for creation to become all it was meant to be through worship.
