Tag: Psalm 124

Links for today’s readings:

Jul 31  Read: Isaiah 60 Listen: (3:55) Read: Psalms 132-134 Listen: (2:42)

Links for today’s readings:

Aug 1  Read: Isaiah 61 Listen: (2:23) Read: Psalms 135-136 Listen: (5:03)|
Aug 2  Read: Isaiah 62 Listen: (2:09) Read: Psalms 137-138 Listen: (2:13)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 133:1

1 How good and pleasant it is
    when God’s people live together in unity!

Psalm 134:1

1 Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord
    who minister by night in the house of the Lord.

Psalm 135:1-2

1 Praise the Lord.
Praise the name of the Lord;
    praise him, you servants of the Lord,
2 you who minister in the house of the Lord,
    in the courts of the house of our God.

Reflection: Songs of Ascent Playlist – Unity Tour

By Erin Newton

Each year elite cyclists from around the world compete in Le Tour de France. In our house, it’s practically a holiday. Each day we watch the athletes race through towns, up hills and around curves at ridiculous speeds.

Whenever there is a steep climb on one stage of the race, the first one to the top receives a white and red polka dot jersey to wear on the next day. There are other jerseys: solid white for the best young rider, solid green for the best sprinter, and solid yellow for the overall leader.

Even if most cyclists never wear one of these jerseys, they are all headed to the same place. They arrive at different times, but they celebrate together. Many friendships extend beyond team lines. This year’s leader was heartbroken when a fellow rider broke his collarbone and had to withdraw from the Tour. They wear different jerseys and different sponsor logos but they are like brothers.

In these next few psalms, we have another mountaintop moment—a chorus of singers arrive and join in worship. Psalm 133 aptly proclaims, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.” The psalmist reflects on the diverse and varied community that had taken the trek up to Jerusalem, those who ascended the mountain together.

The next two psalms refer to “all you servants” who minister day and night and in the house and courts of God. All servants. Unity. These are surely words of restoration and worship.

I’ve been involved in church dynamics before that included members seeking to create boundaries or barriers for other believers. There were a series of rules, hoops, or processes that were said to be for the preservation of the faith, but they actually functioned in a divisive way.

I left one day saying, “Surely Jesus didn’t mean our persecution would be from the hands of one another!” How good and pleasant unity is indeed.

In what ways have you been part of a group that discriminated against other travelers on the way to commune with God? Have you been on the receiving end of such discrimination? How has disunity festered among God’s people?

We are all called servants of God, each ministering in our own ways. We are all traveling the same roads from rescue to restoration. May we enjoy the pleasantness of unity in the house of God!

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; let those who love your salvation say forever, “Great is the Lord!” — Psalm 70.4

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Songs of Ascent Playlist — From War to Peace

Psalm 121 lifts our heads to our destination and source of help and hope. We do not rely on the strength of our legs to make this climb. God will not let us slip.

Read more: Songs of Ascent Playlist — From Badlands to Highlands

We return home with a reoriented reality. The temporary exodus reminds us an eternal one is coming.

Links for today’s readings:

Jul 28  Read: Isaiah 57 Listen: (3:37) Read: Psalms 123-125 Listen: (1:32)

Reflection: Songs of Ascent Playlist — From Badlands to Highlands

By John Tillman

The fifteen “Songs of Ascent” following Psalm 119 are a divine playlist of rescue, restoration, and worship. These songs were sung on the ascent to Jerusalem and sung about the post-exile return to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem’s temple represented God dwelling with his people as he did in Sinai’s wilderness. Every trip to the temple was a lowercase “exodus” from life’s daily enslavements and temptations to seek freedom and forgiveness at the mountain of God. “Songs of Ascent” helped people sing their way from the badlands of sin, separation, and slavery to the highlands of freedom, forgiveness, and fellowship with God.

Have you ever needed more than a vacation? Have you needed an escape?

The psalmists of Psalms 123, 124, and 125 map out that kind of journey. They move from badlands to highlands using a similar pattern from the first triad, Psalm 120, 121, and 122. The pattern begins with lament, turns to praise, and ends with peace. 

Psalm 123 raises a cry for mercy. They are trapped in contempt, ridicule, and arrogance. In Psalm 124, they remember the Lord is the source of rescue. The trap is broken. They escape the attacks that tried to sweep them away. In Psalm 125, they remember where they are escaping to. Their destination and destiny is God’s righteous kingdom of justice.

My wife and I have taken many healing and freeing “escapes” to the mountains or desert highlands. In the wildest places, our phones lose their signal but our souls better detect God’s truths.

We return home with a reoriented reality. The temporary exodus reminds us an eternal one is coming. Contempt, ridicule, and arrogance may close their trap on us, but it will shatter in their faces. The scepters of swaggering tyrants will splinter. Corrupt thrones and powers will be overthrown. These truths ride home with us like a song we can sing.

I encourage travel as a spiritual discipline. Visit a National Park or your local city park. (We don’t take our inspiration from Central Park for nothing.) But even without leaving your house, “Songs of Ascent” can transport you to your true home.

Whatever kind of badlands you navigate, Jesus has opened the road to God’s highlands. No kind of sin, corruption, oppression, worry, or sickness can keep you from joining him on that narrow way. Sing your way there with these psalms. Sing your way into God’s peaceful highlands.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Be joyful to the Lord, all you lands; serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song. — Psalm 100.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: How Did He Do It?

How did Jesus do it?…set aside his divinity and glory to live in flesh and struggle…worship in a corrupted temple and synagogue system?

Read The Bible With Us

If our devotionals help you, they’d probably also help someone you know. Invite them to walk through the scriptures with you at our sustainable, two-year pace.

https://mailchi.mp/theparkforum/m-f-daily-email-devotional