Wise Worship
Opening Prayer
Lord, I choose to lay my burdens at Your feet and just worship You for who You are today.
Read Psalm 122
1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
2 Our feet are standing
in your gates, Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.
4 That is where the tribes go up—
the tribes of the Lord—
to praise the name of the Lord
according to the statute given to Israel.
5 There stand the thrones for judgment,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.
7 May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.”
8 For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your prosperity.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What is your attitude to worship and fellowship with fellow Christians?Psalm 122 is part of a series of Songs of Ascent: songs used by Jewish pilgrims as they made their way to Jerusalem for three annual festivals—Passover, Pentecost and the Day of Atonement. In this psalm David expresses delight in going to worship in the house of God, the Temple at Jerusalem. But this psalm is not about individual worship but communal worship. David delights in the communal aspect of coming together to worship God: “our feet” (2), “the tribes go up” (4), “the Lord our God” (9).
This psalm expresses a longing for justice (5) and peace (6–8)—a security and tranquility that can only be found in God (6). In A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Eugene Peterson writes: “Shalom, ‘peace,’ is one of the richest words in the Bible… It gathers all aspects of wholeness that result from God’s will being completed in us. It is the work of God that, when complete, releases streams of living water in us and pulsates with eternal life.” This shalom is not just for the individual but results in a collective wholeness. And the psalmist’s focus is not just on his own needs, but on the needs of those around him.
Apply
What do you need to do in order to develop the sort of attitudes to worship that David encourages us to cultivate?
Closing prayer
Read John 4:24 and ask God to show you what it means to “worship in spirit and in truth.”
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