Psalms of Ascent (Psalms conclusion)

Bonus! Today's discussion is also available on Youtube if you'd rather listen!

Over the summer we've had a chance to spend some time studying the Psalms. Today we conclude our study in the Psalms by commenting briefly on the Psalms of Ascent. 

Psalms 120-134 will often have the title "Psalm of Ascent". In Hebrew these titles are comprised of two words: שִׁיר and מַעֲלָה. The first word meaning 'song' (שִׁיר pronounced 'sheer') and the second word meaning 'degrees' or 'steps' or 'ascent' (מַעֲלָה 'mah-al-aw'). This group of the Psalms were sung specifically by traveling worshippers on their way to Jerusalem for the annual feasts. 

These Psalms often speak in experiential terms of God's provision and protection. This shouldn't be a shock to us when we remember these are songs of pilgrims, people who are leaving their homes to go and worship. On any journey provision and protection are needed. For the ancient people of God they saw provision and protection as gifts from the One whom they worshipped. 

Psalm 121:1-2 speaks of the protection of the Lord:

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 123:2b speaks with a voice longing for the Lord's provision of Mercy: 

so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy.

Psalm 125:2 uses geographic landmarks to describe the protection of God:

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.

Psalm 127:1 speaks both of protection and provision as being useless if they are not provided by the Lord:

Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.

Psalm 131 instructs singers to abandon their anxiety and place their hopes in the Lord in verse 3:

Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore.

The tone of these Psalms is often a tone of prayer, or instruction to others. These Psalms remind us that when we sing in a spirit of worship to our God we do at least three things:

1) As we sing to God we render praise, honor, and thanksgiving to our creator and redeemer. Singing is the expenditure of our breath for the sake of God. By raising our voices in song to God we lift up an offering of worship. 

2) As we sing to God we encourage and teach one another regarding the truths of God. This is one reason we ought to be wise, discerning, and thoughtful in the songs we listen to, and the songs we sing. When we sing together in worship we encourage one another to live the life of faith the song puts forward, and we teach loudly what that life looks like according to the words of the song. 

3) As we sing to God we also experience an inner questioning and provocation. As we read the words of a song to sing, and as we sing them ourselves we are forced to either inwardly confess that this is our belief, or we are loudly declaring ourselves to be hypocrites. We either raise our voice in solidarity, or we expose ourselves as hypocrites to ourselves, by our own singing of that which we do not inwardly believe. 

The Psalms are a source of blessing to the people of God. In the Psalms we see more than lament, more than praise, more than thanksgiving. In the Psalms we see the songbook of the people of God. In the Psalms we can observe the very words which were sung by and stirred up the heart of Jesus. We would do well in our own devotions, be they personal, be they among our family, or in our churches, to heed the wisdom of the Psalms, to study, meditate upon, and fill our prayers with the Psalms.