Psalm 132

A Song of Ascents.

1 O Lord, remember in David’s favour all the hardships he endured;
2 how he swore to the Lord and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
3 ‘I will not enter my house or get into my bed;
4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
5 until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling-place for the Mighty One of Jacob.’

6 We heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar.
7 ‘Let us go to his dwelling-place; let us worship at his footstool.’

8 Rise up, O Lord, and go to your resting-place, you and the ark of your might.
9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your faithful shout for joy.
10 For your servant David’s sake do not turn away the face of your anointed one.

11 The Lord swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back:
‘One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant and my decrees that I shall teach them,
their sons also, for evermore, shall sit on your throne.’

13 For the Lord has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his habitation:
14 ‘This is my resting-place for ever; here I will reside, for I have desired it.
15 I will abundantly bless its provisions; I will satisfy its poor with bread.
16 Its priests I will clothe with salvation, and its faithful will shout for joy.
17 There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David;
    I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.
18 His enemies I will clothe with disgrace,
    but on him, his crown will gleam.’

This is yet another psalm that the pilgrims sang as they travelled towards Jerusalem for their celebration in the temple. It is worth noticing that the pilgrims are on the move travelling to Jerusalem as their stopping place, the heart of the psalm is about God finding a resting-place (vs. 5, 8, 14), and even David (the main human character in the story) is on the move (vs 6 – from his home county Ephrathah he eventually fled to the fields of Jaar to get away from Saul).

Augustine of Hippo famously said, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You (God).” But this psalm actually has God seeking a place to reside, a dwelling place, a resting place. For only when God has settled down in the place where God will reside can we join him, until then we are on the move with God.

The good news is that God has found a dwelling place, a place to reside, and we are invited to join him there. But even as we do that, we do so remembering that God knows what it is to be on pilgrimage – to be a wanderer seeking a place to reside for that is what Jesus experienced. Rootlessness, not belonging, until he was ascended to heaven. Jesus is the one who fulfills the promise of vs. 11, 12 - -that a descendant of God would be secure on the throne.

When we are on the move, when we feel restless like we do not belong, it is in that moment that we can remember that we can be secure in Jesus. For Jesus has found his dwelling place with God and we can be assured of the same dwelling place. The same place of rest.

PRAYER:

O Lord, we rejoice that you have found a dwelling place – and that in you our restlessness can find rest, our wandering can find a home. We are without place and belonging, but in you we find a home, a place of rest. Great are you, Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Psalm 131

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

1 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvellous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;
    my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.

3 O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time on and for evermore.

How much of our anxiety and worry, our distress and despair arises from our thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to (Romans 12:3)? The second half of vs. 1, the writer, David, says he has have decided to not “occupy” himself with “things too great and marvellous for me.” The operative word is “occupy” – a word that implies spending time on, being focussed on, allowing it to dominate our thinking and energy. And how often is that true – spending time, excessive time, on things that we have no control over, things that are beyond our ability to fully grasp, let alone to manage?

The invitation is to live into the joy of living human sized lives. To not allow ourselves to believe the tempting voices to live bigger, to not try to manage things we have only limited knowledge of, to not imagine ourselves as anything but human beings. Being content with being persons who live into the joy and wonder of being human sized.    

In order to live this way, we need to trust. To trust just a little child trusts their mother. The little child trusts that their mother will care for them, look after them. Little children do not worry themselves with concerns larger than their ability, beyond their age. And if young children are forced to concern themselves with things beyond their age, we think there is something wrong.

David, the writer, imagines his soul calm and content with God, just as a young child is calm and content when with their mother. To hope in the Lord (vs. 3) is to trust in God, to believe that God will bring about the transformation and good we all deeply desire. The psalm invites us to trust God, and not fret about things that are beyond our ability or control.

PRAYER:

O Lord, we often are tempted to live larger than human lives, trying to understand and manage things “too great and too marvellous” for us. Teach us the calm and quiet of living human sized lives trusting you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.