And note how David responds to God’s sovereign power and control over our lives: “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!” Indeed, they are very precious. God is perfect, and his perfections secure our grace and hope. That is why we praise the Almighty God.
Read MoreAre you troubled? Have you lost your courage to press on? Let Ps 138 comfort you. For as we consider his steadfast love and faithfulness, we will say with David, “my strength of soul you have increased.” And in time, his rescue will come. We can be sure of it, for his name and word must be exalted over all things.
Read MoreSo let’s say it together. Let’s say it together twenty six times. Or how every many times it takes for the truth to grab our hearts and thanks and praise explode out of our hearts. Let us praise the Lord together, “for his steadfast love endures forever.”
Read MoreNote, then, how the psalmist is not diminished by his worship of the LORD, but he truly comes to his full self. He sees the beauty of the LORD, speaks his praise, understands the promises, and truly comes alive. How blessed it is to praise the LORD! For it makes us what we were truly meant to be. So we join the psalmist and say, “Blessed be the LORD from Zion, he who dwells in Jerusalem! Praise the LORD!”
Read MoreWe are also pilgrims. Our journey does not lead us to the earthly Jerusalem, but to heavenly Jerusalem. And we will count every step as blessing. Every step that leads us home, however hard the road may be, is a step that brings us closer to glory and joy. And while we make our journey, we will certainly pray for, and receive, help. But we will also bless the LORD. We will bless the servants of the LORD.
Read MoreAnd it is in these precise terms David describes the spiritual fellowship of fellow pilgrims. For we experience God’s presence and blessing in fellowship with other believers in ways not possible on our own. There is glory and joy in sharing our pilgrimage with one another.
Read MoreJesus is both the Temple and the Temple-builder. In Jesus, the honor of Temple-building and worship are ours. Psalm 132 is our song.
Read MoreIn the end, contentment is not something that happens to us when we are no longer unsettled about life and the many questions that remain unanswered. Rather, we can be content because we know God, before whom all questions are answered.
Read MoreHow shall we respond to God’s mercy? We must not continue to think of him like a harmless trinket, as if he were a useful fool. We all want the God for forgiveness. But did you read what follows? “But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” Now we must be broken before him, although in a different sense. We shatter our pride, stubbornness, selfishness, self-adulation, that we may find ourselves made whole in God. And so we will find his mercy made complete in us.
Read MoreSo we sing and pray. May the LORD give us the grace to love and do good to those who hate us. In doing so we will grow ever closer to the LORD who daily loves and does good to us. But we can also sing and pray that all oppression come to an end and all oppressors be utterly rejected by God. In this way, also, we will grow closer to the LORD, who is goodness himself.
Read MoreThis is how we keep on. The end of our pilgrimage is blessing, indeed. All that a happy family and a good job can merely hint at will be truly and really ours. Keep on, then. And look forward to joy.
Read MoreRest in God. Both on the Lord’s Day, and throughout your life. Face all your life’s task and joy in trusting dependence on God, and believe that he will build and accomplish. You are his beloved for Jesus’ sake. Now get some sleep.
Read MoreIn this world we will bear the cross for a while. But Christ no longer wears the crown of thorns. He is now crowned with glory. So we, also, will one day exchange our sorrow for joy. And we will also know glory.
Read MoreThe Lamb is our shelter and refuge, our fortress and rock. And he who protects us is greater and mightier than all who threaten us. The mighty Savior will carry us through this tough world.
Read MoreBut our trials and challenges are just as unpredictable. Yet amidst the seeming chaos and randomness of life, we have a sure hope. And we confess, “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
Read MoreWho am I? What do I celebrate? What informs my life’s direction and passion? We are the resurrection people. Our identity rests not in our race, political leanings, likes and dislikes, but in the resurrection of our Lord. He rose from the dead, and it changes everything about us.
Read MoreThe ultimate aim of Jesus’ cross is not our salvation per se, but his glory. Our desires must rise higher than our own safety, and our aspiration must rise higher than our entrance to heaven. Jesus must receive glory, both now and in the future, both in our life and death.
Read MoreWe are pilgrims. We will never be “at ease” in this world. We will be looked down upon. Do not think something strange is happening. Instead, look up to the Lord.
Read MoreBut our pilgrim life is both already/not-yet. We laugh. But we also cry. We carry the cross and live a life of self-denial. But we are also seated with Christ in his glory where no wants and needs are denied. What has your pilgrim life been like? Would you say you are overwhelmingly a person who lives in the “already”? Then your worship is a call to remember the “not-yet,” to bow before the suffering Lord and look upon his cross. Or would you say that you are overwhelmingly a person of “not-yet”? Then your coming to worship is a call to be comforted by the Lord who has overcome, who sit glorious over death, suffering, and tears.
Read MoreIndeed, our pilgrimage is also fraught with danger. We are hard pressed in every way, and we often meet stiff resistance. We stumble in many ways, and the far-off heavenly Jerusalem feels all but unreachable. That is what discouragement is. We lose heart in life’s many trials, and our hearts sink at the thought of pressing on.
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