The book of Psalms in the Bible is an amazing storehouse of worship and praise songs for us to offer God as our Magnificent Master. We often only use them for ourselves in times of sorrow and tragedy, as they can most certainly offer us comfort and hope. Yet, were they primarily given for mankind to offer to ourselves, or were they first and foremost given for us to give back in sacrifices of praise, worship, and cries of supplication and confession to our Creator, our Lord, our Savior, our God?
There are 150 Psalms written out neatly for us in this songbook located nearly dead-center in our Bibles. Psalms 120 through 134 are placed together because they had a specific purpose in common. They are called the Songs of Ascents. These were songs that were sung by the Israelites as they traveled three times a year from their homes and villages to the capitol of the Kingdom of Israel - Jerusalem herself. The Israelites were required by God’s command to travel to Jerusalem three times each year to celebrate His Feasts. Psalm 122:1-5 tells us it was an ordinance for the tribes of Israel to go up to Israel. Leviticus 23 gives a good understanding of the Feasts of the Lord and what was required of His people. These Feasts are the ever present pictorial reminder of God’s plan for His creation. Christians today should still rejoice in their rich meanings.
The Feasts of God were commanded to be a holy convocation. A convocation is a group that has gathered together because people have been called. A holy convocation means that the assembly is separated unto God; in other words, the whole gathering is all about God and not about the people who are assembling. It also means that the only people who may gather are those who are called by God. Where would God call His people to assemble? Where else but to the very city where the King sits in His temple, ruling over His people - Jerusalem! God had chosen Jerusalem to be the place where He would dwell with His people and therefore placed His Name there for all eternity. Just to clarify, it was not Jerusalem that was special in and of itself; Jerusalem was, and is, special because God has placed His Name there and had put His presence in the temple there. “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the great King! Psalm 47:1-2
Before the temple was ever built in Jerusalem during Solomon’s reign the people assembled together according to God’s ordinances. Although they didn’t go to Jerusalem they still went to the place where God had placed His presence - the Tabernacle which housed the Mercy Seat and the Shekinah Glory. This same Shekinah Glory was then also made manifest over the Temple once it was dedicated to the Lord and accepted by the Lord. II Chronicles 7:16 “...I have chosen and consecrated this house that My Name may be there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.”
Jerusalem was a magnificently fortified city, especially in the days of King David. She was surrounded by other great cities, although none so great as to compare with Jerusalem. The cities surrounding Jerusalem were surrounded by lesser cities and villages. In fact, the further away from Jerusalem you were, the more sparse the population became. It’s the same way today in our country; large cities, even metropolises are surrounded by suburbs and eventually rural towns.
In order for the people to gather together in Jerusalem they had to leave their homes and walk to Jerusalem. It is easy to imagine the excitement and preparation that would precede the actual departure, which was governed by how long it would take to reach their destination - Jerusalem. Clothing fit for the long, arduous trip as well as for the final event, food and water for sustenance along the way, a good working knowledge of the path that led to Jerusalem, and most importantly, their personal offerings and sacrifices which would be required once they had arrived, or enough money to purchase these upon their arrival; all of these had to be taken into consideration. It was the men of the tribes of Israel who made the journey because they were the ones God called to participate in His Feasts, although sometimes they might take their sons or even their whole families along for the trip. Either way, much had to be done in order to be prepared for what lay ahead.
People living in the outermost parts of the country of Israel would begin their march earlier than those who lived closer to the city of the Great King. Those traveling on the lesser traveled roads would head for the nearest larger road, which would eventually merge with an ever larger, more traveled road until finally they were on the greatest road in the land of Israel - the one that entered Jerusalem. As the roads merged, so would the travelers and they would gather together in larger and larger groups until eventually, close to their destination, they became a throng and then a multitude of throngs, each individual with the same intent - to gather in Jerusalem and celebrate the Feast of the Lord!
You know, I can’t help but think that the pilgrimage of the Jews is a picture of our own pilgrimage here on earth and it helps to remind me that we are not just aliens and strangers wandering about in circles on this earth until He comes to take us home, but we are traveling straight through to our destination. We are on a path that He has ordained, we are to stay on it, He has winnowed our path and it contains all that He wants us to go through. Even though sometimes it may seem like we are wandering around in circles, it is actually, in God’s economy, a straight path leading directly to His eternal home for us.
Hebrews 11:8-10 “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”
We, too, have each started out from our own little corner of the world, called by God; we march forward on our ascent toward the heavenly Jerusalem, our paths sometimes converge with other pilgrims as we draw nearer and nearer to the final destination - the city of our God. What a blessing! What a privilege! What fellowship of excitement and anticipation as we realize that we all will soon be gathered together with our Lord!
As the throngs of Israelites would get closer and closer to Jerusalem something else would happen beside the increase in numbers of fellow sojourners, the very ground on which they were traveling was changing in elevation; even if they were traveling south from the Galilee area, they eventually traveled upward as the mountainous range around Jerusalem heightened. This pilgrimage became known as their Ascent, because, in all actuality, that is what they were doing - ascending to the heights of Jerusalem, wherein sat their King on His Holy Mountain.
This always reminds me of the Psalms I mentioned earlier, especially of the portion of the Psalms that the Jews sang on their ascents to Jerusalem and how the sound of that choir of saints would ring louder and louder the closer they came to Jerusalem – both because the number of people gathering on the road, and their anticipation to be reaching the city of the King, had escalated to great heights! Glorious worship resounded from the saints as they approached Him. I can’t help but think those in Jerusalem loved to hear this sound of the approaching of their fellow Israelites, and I think the king, even David himself, would have gloried in the sound of his subjects coming to his city to honor and obey his God, the true King.
So too, I think as the day of His appearing draws near to us our hearts and voices should be singing, ever louder, ever stronger, the praises of our King in His holy city! And I have no doubt that our King finds pleasure in the voices of His faithful chosen ones, glorifying His Holy Name, as they approach His glorious presence!
Many of the songs of the Ascents written down for us deal with the condition of the pilgrim and the nation of Israel at that time - woes and troubles, and even persecution from enemies, but they all are directed to the Lord as the source of all their answers, either asking Him for His deliverance and thanking Him for it, or asking for blessing for themselves, their king, and those who do good. They bless the Lord as they walk toward the Lord, they admit their guilt and they ask for help. However, the focus of each song is always the Lord, not the situation, nor themselves.
Why don’t you pull out those Psalms (120-134) and dust them off if you have to, memorize them if your can, but no matter what, open your mouth and sing them to Him! Don’t have a ‘good’ voice? Sorry, that’s no excuse - you are marvelously and wondrously made by Him (Psalm 139) - He loves your voice whenever it speaks His praises and no less when it sings His Word back to Him in worship and adoration! And remember, your voice will not be alone, even if you are physically alone, because your voice will join with other believers who are praising Him all around this world as their journey, too, draws near its end. God hears and He is pleased with your voice if it is raised to Him, acknowledging Him as God.
Still have an objection? Possibly thinking that you don’t know the melody? That is okay, probably no one knows the original sound of the song (in fact, there were probably many variations to each song). Just open your mouth and start singing - do it with a sincere and humble heart, and make it a sacrifice from your lips. If you do so, He may just give you a gorgeous melody to go along with the song you are singing, or it may sound like just a bunch of notes, or it might be just one note over and over and over again. None of that really matters. He will accept the offering if it comes from one of His obedient children. Put down your pride and obey the Lord in all things - sing to Him and join the glorious worship resounding from the rest of the saints as we approach Him in His holy habitation!
