Psalm 120: Leading with Vulnerability
Towards the end of the book of Psalms, there are 15 Psalms that were sung by the people of God as they made their annual journey to Jerusalem to remember their past, celebrate feasts, and worship the Lord. These Psalms are songs of celebration, and lamentation, they ask questions and make statements, they express hopes and disappointments; yet in them all are expressions of faith in a God who always comes through on God’s promises.
In this devotional series we’ve entitled “Pilgrim Songs: Psalms for the Journey”, we will walk through the Psalms of ascent and consider the truths these ancient songs may have for us as we, at Christ City Church, engage in our own summer of pilgrimage. We will consider our own joys and sorrows, our own disappointment with God and God’s people, our own hope for forgiveness and deliverance. The aim of this is so that we, like the first Psalmists, may arrive in a geography that is filled with assurance and joy in a God who is ultimately trustworthy.
Today, we begin with Psalm 120.
WORSHIP
LAUDS
Written by Matthew Watson
Take a minute to read Psalm 120.
Psalm 120 begins with a plea. There is a remarkable juxtaposition. The Psalmist on the way to worship in the temple, ascending the hills of Jerusalem and making their way to the holy places, preparing to sing songs of worship is expressing heartache, uncertainty, and distress.
“I call on the Lord, in my distress…and He answers me” Psalm 120:1.
It begins with the Psalmist saying plainly that they are in a bad situation. 8 words into the Psalms of ascent.
Psalm 120 is 7 verses long. And 6 of them are haunting. Verse 2-7 describe the shape of the distress the Psalmist is experiencing – lies, deceit, violence. They speak of pain and deception, hardship and war. Psalm 120 is more sorrow than praise; more lamentation than ascension.
Except for that one, opening verse. “I call on the Lord…and he answers me”.
It is in the opening lines of the song, the first stanza that we are able to make it through the others. Remembering that in the midst of it all, in the midst of lies, deception, and pain – is a God who hears our prayers for relief; a Savior who can identify with us in our distress, strengthens us in the midst of it, and ultimately rescues us from it.
In this way, Psalm 120 points us to Jesus; the one who faced all of the lies, all of the deception, faced all the deceit and distress and took it into himself on the cross on our behalf. And overcomes it all in the resurrection from the grave, offering life to us.
Psalm 120 invites us to share our vulnerabilities and distress with the Lord, and reminds us that God hears those prayers and acts on our behalf.
Reflection
What might it look like for us to follow in that same path of vulnerability with the Lord and with those in our community? What might the Spirit do in our lives if we become more open with one another about the ways we are struggling and the areas wherein we need prayer.
What is an area of your life that you need prayer for?
Who can you share that with so that they can be in prayer for you and with you?
Who in your life, that is struggling in some way that you are aware of? Be in prayer for them, and reach out to them letting them know you are standing with them as you, together, “call on the Lord” (Psalm 120:1).
VESPERS
Music
By Anne Porter (1911-2011)
When I was a child
I once sat sobbing on the floor
Beside my mother’s piano
As she played and sang
For there was in her singing
A shy yet solemn glory
My smallness could not hold
And when I was asked
Why I was crying
I had no words for it
I only shook my head
And went on crying
Why is it that music
At its most beautiful
Opens a wound in us
An ache a desolation
Deep as a homesickness
For some far-off
And half-forgotten country
I’ve never understood
Why this is so
But there’s an ancient legend
From the other side of the world
That gives away the secret
Of this mysterious sorrow
For centuries on centuries
We have been wandering
But we were made for Paradise
As deer for the forest
And when music comes to us
With its heavenly beauty
It brings us desolation
For when we hear it
We half remember
That lost native country
We simply remember the fields
Their fragrant windswept clover
The birdsong in the orchards
The wild white violets in the moss
By the transparent streams
And shining at the heart of it
Is the longed-for beauty
Of the One who waits for us
Who will always wait for us
In those radiant meadows
Yet also came to live with us
And wanders where we wander.
