By David Phillips
Glad
Psalm 122:1 says, I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” Sometimes we are given an indication of the time or of the setting in which a particular Psalm was written. Of this one, the superscript only informs us that this is a song of assents, written by David. A song of ascents is generally accepted to be a song that was sung by the worshipers as they made their way up to Jerusalem to worship at the three solemn feasts. These Psalms were not necessarily written upon the occasion of ascending to Jerusalem, but were writings from the past that were typically used for the occasion of approaching the city, or the temple to worship.
The original occasion upon which David wrote this Psalm could have been one of many. Perhaps it was near the time when, after conquering the old original Jebusite stronghold of Salem, he completed the necessary fortifications that would make Jerusalem suitable for his use as the throne city (2 Samuel 5). Perhaps it was written on the joyful occasion of bringing the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem, where it rightfully belonged, bringing a great sense of restoration to the matter of worshiping God (2 Samuel 6). Historically, we could imagine any number of occasions when David would have felt joy and eagerness to bow before God in worship.
After receiving word this past Friday that we will be able to resume our normal worship assemblies after tomorrow, I feel a close connection to David’s words, and his eagerness, here. As you know, the house of the Lord is no longer a physical building, as it was in David’s time of the tabernacle, and Solomon’s day of the magnificent temple. Rather, the house of God is now the body of Christ, the church, the people (1 Timothy 3:15). With joyful anticipation, we look forward to being able to once again assemble in our normal way after two months of interruption. We look forward to seeing one another this coming Wednesday night and next Sunday, as we once again come together as the house of the Lord. We look forward to that sense of restoration it will bring.
Though there should be no handshakes or hugs yet (and that will be hard), what a blessed occasion it will be. See you then. And for today, see you online.
God bless.