When we are joyful, what do we do? We sing. When we are afraid, what do we do? We sing. When we are down, what do we do? We sing. The entire book of Psalms is the songbook. In particular, our spiritual ancestors set apart fifteen psalms, the psalms numbered 120 through 134, and called them “Song of Ascents.” These fifteen psalms were likely sung by Hebrew pilgrims as they went up to Jerusalem to the great worship festivals. In ancient Israel Jerusalem was topographically the highest city, and so all those who traveled there literally spent much of their time ascending. But this title, “Song of Ascents” is also a metaphor. The pilgrim’s journey to Jerusalem acted out a life journey upward toward God, going to God. On their journey pilgrims sang. They sang to express their love and gratitude to God. They sang to quiet down their anxious thoughts and fears. They sang to encourage one another.
Dissatisfaction
Psalm 120 is the first song of ascent. Most of the songs of ascent are quite cheerful and hopeful. But this particular psalm is a lament. This psalm is sung by a worshipper who lives in a hostile environment. In verses 5 and 6 the psalmist laments in this way:
“Woe is me, that I am an alien in Meshech, that I must live among the tents of Kedar. Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.”
Meshech and Kedar are place names. Meshech is thousands of miles away from Israel in southern Russia. Kedar belongs to a wandering north Bedouin tribe along Israel’s borders. Both places represent the strange and the hostile. The psalmist used to consider those places his home for a long time. He used to feel comfortable to live there. He really enjoyed his lifestyle there and believed that was what life should be. But then, for some reason he began to feel more and more dissatisfied with his world. He became fed up with the lies and the hate. And the place he lived became more and more strange and hostile to him. And now the psalmist is ready to set out on a new journey, a pilgrim journey to God. So the first lesson we can learn from this psalm of lament is that such dissatisfaction with the world is preparation for a pilgrim journey.
In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress the story begins in this way. Christian used to live in a town called “City of Destruction.” He loved his town and the people there. The house was pleasant and comfortable to live. He was satisfied with his life. But then he was given a book. And he opened it and began to read. As he read, Christian began to feel a great burden on his back. He wept and trembled, crying out, “What shall I do?” He shared his true feelings to his wife and children, but they didn’t understand. At first his family tried to console him and suggested him to have some rest. But it didn’t help. Then, they became angry with him. Finally, they ignored him. Some people in town mocked him, some scolded him, and later they became even hostile to him. Christian grew more and more troubled and dissatisfied. One day he walked in the field in distress and burst out crying, “What shall I do to be saved?” As he stood, there a man named Evangelist walked up to him, pointed to a narrow gate, and said, “Fix your eyes on the light, go straight toward it, and you will find the narrow gate.” That’s how Christian set out on his pilgrim journey to God.
Hope
Saint Augustine writes in his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” Such restlessness, such dissatisfaction prepares us to set out on our journey to God, ascending to God. As is often said, we never realize that God is all we need until God is all we have. The way up is, first of all, down. For me personally, it was not until my military time that I truly realized that Jesus is all I need. Until then, I was satisfied with my world. But while I was in the military, there I met all different kinds of people and saw a microcosm of society and the fundamentals of human nature. And I got thoroughly fed up with the lies, the hate, the violence, the corruption, the ways of the world around me. I was dissatisfied. And at the same time, my longing for peace and truth grew more and more inside of me. At that time somebody gave me a pocket Bible which included the Psalms and the New Testament. Every night after my night duty I ran to the restroom with the book, because that was the only place where there was a light. I read one psalm every night and prayed with the psalms. Every single word of Psalms came alive to me. “But now, O Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you!” (Psalm 39:7) New hope sprang up. That’s how I set out on my pilgrim journey to God.
The way up is down. The Bible says, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame” (Romans 5:3-5a, ESV). Dissatisfaction leads to Christian hope. I have learned this truth from saints at a nursing home. Overall, they are content and grateful. They are grateful to staffs, their family, and roommates. But they are dissatisfied with the world as it is and longing for peace. In our weekly gathering their favorite time is hymn sing. And their favorite hymn is “Farther Along” which has become one of my favorites:
Tempted and tried, how often we questionWhy we must suffer year after year,Being accused by those of our loved ones,E’en though we’ve walked in God’s holy fear.Farther along we’ll know more about it,Farther along we’ll understand why;Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine,We’ll understand it all by and by.
The Lies and the Truth
This is my pilgrim song. This is our pilgrim song. It’s not a happy song but an honest and necessary one. On our pilgrim journey we are told the lies of the world, “Everything is OK.” In Pilgrim’s Progress Christian meets three men – Simple, Sloth, and Presumption. They are lying fast asleep with iron fetters on their legs. So, Christian warns them of their danger, saying, “Beware! Come away, and I will help you off with your irons.” But they answer, “We see no danger. Everything is just fine.” And they lie down to sleep again.
What are the lies we are told today? We are told in this pandemic, “It’s going to be fine.” But the truth is when this pandemic is lifted, the worst thing that we could do in response is just go back, unchanged, to our old, normal lives. We are also told, “We’ll be different after this.” But the truth is now is the time, not after this pandemic.
Turn
In his book Here and Now Henri Nouwen talks about a mime he saw. In the mime a man was straining to open one of the three doors in the room where he found himself. He pushed and pulled at the doorknobs, but none of the doors would open. Then he kicked with his feet against the wooden panels of the door, but they didn’t break. Finally, he threw his full weight against the doors, but none of them yielded. Then, Nouwen concluded in this way[i]:
“It was a ridiculous, yet very hilarious sight, because the man was so concentrated on the three locked doors that he didn’t even notice that the room had no back wall and that he could simply walk out if he would only turn around and look!”
Like the man in the mime, how often we are so preoccupied with our world and fail to perceive what God is doing around us and among us. By God’s grace the hamster wheel of busyness and productivity has been halted for the time being. And now is the time to turn, turn around, turn to God. Now is the time to set our heart on God’s kingdom. Now is the time to set out on our pilgrim journey, ascending to God. Today let us join all God’s pilgrims in singing, “Deliver me, O Lord, from the lies of the world and lead me in your way of truth and peace.” Amen.
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[i] Henri J. M. Nouwen, Here and Now: Living in the Spirit (p. 60). The Crossroad Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.
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