Category Archives: life

take hold

“From the ends of the earth I call to Thee when my heart is faint; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For Thou hast been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy.” Psalm 61:2-3

This simple alcohol ink drawing recently sold, but the image and the thought behind it remains mine. Since this handmade impression and the words inscribed around it spoke to another, it seems apt to share it here now.

Recent events, and the trauma for so many in peril has awakened me to lifting prayers in the middle of the night. I have heard others say the same. It is now our reality, worldwide, where some need desperately to hide, and others look for any alternative tower of strength they can find. There are enemies, surely there are. Hearts are faint. But fear and sadness will not grip me, though it visit me, and I have consequential response while I have breath for others. For there is One who hears every plaintiff cry to Him. He is often symbolized as “a rock” in the Bible, and yes, this One is higher than we are. Further, He is a willing refuge for any who seek Him.

“For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth, that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this (said an unknown seer to a dithering King). Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.” 2 Chronicles 16:9

So take hold to this One who sees and knows, grasp on from your heart, trusting these given words, trusting also the perfect Son, Jesus, “the rock”, who bought your ticket of access before God by His atoning death and resurrection. If you trust Him, He will know it, and He will shelter you.

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What goes down (goes up)

It is simple and yes, it is scary; but only if you will be honest about what you cannot escape. Your only alternative is to dismiss or pretend for a while — in arrogant assumptions: “there is no God!” “no one sees” “I’m in charge here” “you’re an idiot” “there’s no dialogue” “we’ll enforce this, for the power is ours and we’re on the right side of history”… You may be comfortable for some time this way, but in the end, a higher reality will overcome you. What will you say then?

You have no explanation for why every single human, in all human history goes down, one same direction: down, back into dirt. In this we are all the same. Your body has a shelf-life which betrays every ultimate supposition. The wise grapple with this; for raw honesty is the only way that leads to a scrap of hope.

I am compelled to put these morbid words down. For kidnappings in Nigeria, assassination in Haiti, beheadings in Indonesia, torture in Afghanistan and every hidden thing done in certain American clinics, and in certain Chinese wards has me sorely vexed. I cannot just shrug off what’s going down. I am one voice, from one soul in the same time period as you are. But I am calling it out with real concern.

This is what holds me: God sees it, He sees it all. God hears it. And God hears me. My blood and your blood has something in it that answers back to Him, even if the embodied owner of each DNA code could or never would talk to his Creator. The blood cries up. It did at the very first spilling of just one body ripped open. It is generations of sound waves now. This will not end well for those who won’t address Him while they yet have time to do so here.

 “But they will be held guilty, they whose strength is their god… and though it (the Lord’s answer) tarries, wait for it…” Habakkuk 1:11 and 2:3

In contrast to this waiting, I saw a large banner in an upscale American town which proclaimed, “Rage against Hate”. This makes shortsighted sense to some. Human rage always has its reasons, but it is blind to the multiplied effect; and all the collateral damage is worse than any deadly virus. I heard a young woman proudly say recently “burn it all down” and she sincerely thinks that somehow what will arise from the ashes will be productive for the powerless. Tit for tat only ever expands the sorrows.

So, one prophet, instead of raging with men, actually took up his case by raging with the God of justice (worth reading the whole account). He later recorded this and I echo it often:

“Lord, I have heard the report about Thee and I fear. Oh Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy… I heard, and my inward parts trembled. At the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress… Yet I will exult in the Lord.” (Habakkuk 3:2, 16,18) The prophet does not get there easily, but he got there.

Here’s what I say to myself and encourage as prescription for anyone. In your recognized vulnerability, take your case up. Life cries to LIFE, better sooner than later. All blood cries up for an account anyway. What’s in your blood is consequential metabolically but also spiritually, regardless of what you have assumed about God or yourself. Blood travels upward though it is heavy, even buried in the ground. That’s what this image is about.

 For what goes down does go up.

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finish in Zion

finishing the ascent

Since July of this CoVid year, I have been posting a reflection on each of the 15 psalms in a sub-collection out of the ancient Psalm book called the “Psalms of Ascent”. These Psalms: 120-134, have fascinated me for a long time as a pattern for spiritual progress. Like Jacob’s ladder, these ascend meaningfully. Like the Hebrew walk up to Jerusalem these get more complex in time and in history referencing that land. And like King Hezekiah’s answered prayer these are an emblem of 15 movements on steps arranged by the only One who controls time and who responds so mysteriously through our requests to Him.

We live in linear time. We start somewhere, we end somewhere; but time moves for us in only one direction. We also live under the limitations of life in all its complexities. Gravity, hardened ground, hardened hearts, decay, illnesses of many kinds, warring nations, suspicions and patterns of mistrust put us all on watch. It does not matter on which continent you live, what language you speak, or what century your life has passaged through, this has been true for you: life is hard, and time only goes forward. None of us can move back in time to our earlier days, we can only step some way ahead into days we’re not sure of. My best advice? Don’t go it alone. Go with the One who is over time and nations, and who has echoed through His whole book about a plan and a purpose for those who are hungry to know.

Abraham was shown the stars, given words about offspring (he didn’t have) a settled land (he couldn’t see) and a blessing beyond his ability to measure. Abraham simply believed the intervening voice of a God he was choosing to follow. What is evidenced in this last Psalm in the Ascent collection is a prophetic view of that coming blessing. It’s a short burst of praise; and like the last two responses in this final triplet it’s a corporate response. Many now are believing, beholding, praising and responding. But we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

I started this series after a lot of study, then some sketching of the patterns I thought I could see. I’ve mentioned often in earlier posts about the triplet pattern evident: every three Psalms in this set of 15 shows a rhythm that gets repeated through the whole. But there is also a pattern of fives that reflect the 3 promises earlier given to Abraham about the land he was walking toward, the seed which would come from him and the blessing God was not only promising but would guarantee (Gen.12, ratified in ch.15).

The Psalm writers were all descendants of Abraham. The prophets were also; and what they saw ahead was mysteriously sure and echoed often in both their own times but also pointing toward a final fuller FINISH. We’re almost there. I can hear the cheering in the stadium. I have motivation and great confidence, like Abraham did, because of the One who spoke these promises. I can trust (not what I see now but rather) these words because God not only spoke His promises again and again, but He also guaranteed that He would get it done some day in fullest human history.

finish in Zion

A song of ascents.

134 Attention! Praise the Lord,
all you servants of the Lord,
who serve in the Lord’s temple during the night.
2 Lift your hands toward the sanctuary
and praise the Lord.
3 May the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth,
bless you from Zion.

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a Vision and a Prophecy of UNITY

A song of ascents; by David.

133 Look! How good and how pleasant it is
when brothers truly live in unity.
2 It is like fine oil poured on the head,
which flows down the beard—
Aaron’s beard,
and then flows down his garments.
3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
which flows down upon the hills of Zion.
Indeed, that is where the Lord has decreed
a blessing will be available—eternal life. (NET version)

We’re in the home stretch now with this short burst of a psalm. Like when a marathon runner makes his last turn and can see the stadium up ahead, there’s a final push to make it in. There’s expectation here, but also a necessary reach.

In every triplet of this series of 15 ascent Psalms. we’ve seen specific need expressed in the middle psalm of its set of 3. The theme of each triplet ascends this way in the whole series. From ENTRY to TESTING to FRUIT to PERSECUTION and finally now to the dream of FINISH; the anticipation is heightened. But this last effort is the hardest. And all the more so because this is not a solitary song. It is not a singular race. This whole last triplet is a corporate expression now. Here it is a group, a family, a nation that needs to make it in together.

The Bible is honest about human effort, and especially the track record of brothers getting along well — not a pleasant picture! From the first set of brothers (murder), to Jacob’s sons (treachery), from David’s brothers and his sons to Jesus’ own brothers before His resurrection, we have conflict repeated. Unity is not a facile thing; it cannot be superficially pronounced especially for those who have to “dwell together”. Jews say about themselves “two Jews, three opinions”. How then does any group, hammering out differences, come to any place of real unity?

Unity is not one group silenced or cancelled so the other can claim peace. Coerced unity is the enemy’s game. True unity is hard and courageous work. It is the last battle, and was most on Jesus’ mind for his followers — and what He asked of His Father before He was arrested. Jesus’ torch, and His prophecies have been passed to us — wether we also get arrested or not.

Dr. Martin Luther King said it this way: “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools”

Unity means not to live in one’s own monologue but rather a teachable dialogue. And according to Rev. King, it takes the oppressed to have to bring the issue up. The ones comfortably in power won’t care to know otherwise. When a news anchor (former political strategist) says there aren’t two sides to the story, he is advocating for his monologue and has lost his way as an open minded “journalist”. Unity happens when two sides do the hard work of listening, of trying to respect, and coming to some kind of reasonable understanding.

“Come let us reason together” says the Lord. Think of that! Why would God even care to listen to our argument, our problem! And this is the key: no unity is possible without God’s help.

This core truth is evidenced in Psalm 133. The solution to our problem of unity only comes through Him, and when it does it is a true wonder. That’s why the Psalm begins with an exclamation of astonishment and humility. The resolution toward unity has to come from a source higher than any human’s meagre position.

Just as life is sustained by the material sustenance of water from on high, so also unity is sourced from above: a spiritual anointing from God. Both the material and the spiritual are illustrated in parallel here. Then Aaron is referenced: he was the first priest to the Hebrew nation. The human priest was simply not effectual until he was anointed by God with oil, and then symbolically that sustenance flowed from him to the group.

Simply and urgently put: human unity does not happen apart from God’s entrance into the situation, and our recognition of need so that He does, invited.

Mount Herman, Israel. A symbol of Unity

In my rendition of this Psalm, I tried to suggest Mt. Hermon, the highest height in Israel. Jews and pagans would look to the heights for answers (cf. Psalm 121). But if their expectation was only in the natural realm there would be no real help coming. In this Psalm however there is a picture of lasting spiritual blessing with God. For only with God is true unity possible.

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remember

As we enter the very last triplet in this series called The Psalms of Ascent, we are hearing more than a brief plea, but rather now a treatise of important national memory. We’re moving from the personal to the corporate. In Psalm 132, we are in the longest Psalm in the collection of these Hebrew traveling songs. King David’s written and very personal prayers we’ve recently encountered. 132 is an older Psalm from the same era; but it broadens to a corporate call forward. Psalm 132 looks back, but also importantly ahead to a very sure God-promised and covenanted future, and specific promise made to David. We are peering currently here into the world-wide importance of Israel’s story, which is highlighted in so much of the Bible’s macro-story. Inform yourself, especially in our own times at hand, as to what is yet coming for all earth dwellers. What has gone before is pattern for what is yet to play out. To know this is to know the way forward.

Why would an American gentile, born midway in the 20th century have any interest in these words? If it weren’t for a Jewish friend who spoke of Abraham to me personally 52 years ago, I would have remained oblivious and blinded to most important things. Have you not yourself seen enough evidence in current events to hunger also for someone to speak to you about what is real, true and lasting?! Eugene Peterson wrote poignantly in 1980 “A Christian who has David in his bones, Jeremiah in his bloodstream, Paul in his fingertips and Christ in his heart will know how much and how little value to put on his own momentary feelings and the experience of the past week.” (!)

These are traveling songs: as has been outlined in my previous 12 postings. These entire 15 psalms concern the journey of celebratory return. They are arranged and patterned out for the sons of Israel, on their way up to Zion. The language is clear about this throughout. Those of us who are not of the Hebrew tribes can take instruction from these at least as symbolic parallels, as watchwords; but the words themselves were written by and for Hebrews, especially in this very last triplet before us now. I may not live through the fulfillment of what these Psalms point to, but it is possible you will, my friend.

As already detailed, every triplet in this series followed a certain cadence (1. distress, 2. reliance, 3. resolution). Here in this last triplet we see the very same. Psalm 132 is the distress of longing, memory and urgent appeal. The last two psalms yet coming will quickly and very concisely move like staccato beats to the corporate national finale. Like in a fireworks show, you will know it when you see it! The full throated unified reliance and then joyous resolution is yet coming, but not before some detailed distress. This has been long promised in all of the Book.

Mature direction pays attention to history; any wise counselor, gentile or Hebrew knows this. The best questions I ever heard were given by the angel of the Lord to a distraught woman in Genesis 16: “Where have you come from? And where are you going?” Without a clear-eyed sense of what went before and what is yet coming, we are at the mercy of whims and lies. You have enough evidence of that kind of stupidity all around you. Don’t stay there paralyzed in media fog, speculation, political manipulation, empty promise and bias. You are being lied to and your gut already knows it.

In my illustration of this important historical Psalm, I aimed to give a sort of timeline sense of the historical darkness which existed before Israel ever came into the land of promise, and the darkness and destruction which came upon them later from both the Babylonians and then later the Romans. The ladders in the middle reference Jacob’s dream repeated in the human aspirations of every other wrangler who aimed for what he was after without relying on God’s good direction. But there is a way given, “even for Jacob” .

Remember the God who still promises. He is the bigger point in all these Psalms. In the end, He alone is the golden sustainer.

The singers of these songs were not the first to seek after God’s sure presence in a walking trek, nor would they be the last who will seek Him with songs of remembrance. Why don’t you consider joining them?

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the crucible

In the previous Psalm of this series the writer has been hit broadside. You can hear it as he flails around in focus between the pain, his long history with this pain, the ones causing the pain, his recollection of the Lord’s justice and his imagination at what observers might say…

Psalm 130 follows and this is where the writer gets way more effectively focused. It is fitting that such singularity would happen here, for remember the triplet rhythm we’ve already seen 3x in this whole collection of 15, even as we sit now in the middle of its 4th triplet. Every time this rhythm was walked through (1. Distress, 2. Reliance, 3. Resolve) the middle Psalm of each triplet was the pivotal expression, or the necessary bridge between the problem and the resolution.

We don’t know how much time has passed between the writer’s experience of the pain of Ps.129; but by the time in his own life that he voices 130, the pain is excruciatingly worse. It is internal now, personal; it is between him and his God now, and some things have had to get clear to him in focus. Observe how he does that, how he pivots, and how he makes a direct appeal:

A song of ascents.

130 From the deep water I cry out to you, O Lord.
2 O Lord, listen to me.
Pay attention to my plea for mercy.
3 If you, O Lord, were to keep track of sins, O Lord, who could stand before you?
4 But you are willing to forgive, so that you might be honored.
5 I rely on the Lord.
I rely on him with my whole being; I wait for his assuring word.
6 I yearn for the Lord, more than watchmen do for the morning,
yes, more than watchmen do for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord, for the Lord exhibits loyal love,
and is more than willing to deliver.
8 He will deliver Israel from all their sins.

It’s commonly easy to bail on God at any broadside hit. I love how the scriptures, in many places, are downright transparent about this. We flounder, we fret, we complain bitterly, then we look for a fix. Too often that fix is our own quick pain-relieving strategy: “out of my way, let ME handle this” (read Jacob, read Peter…). But to stay with God, to trust His character through our own tears, to wait on His solution is by far the better (even if immediately more painful) choice. Can you hear the excruciation going on here? “deep water” “pay attention”! “who can stand” “rely on Him with my whole being” “wait” “yearn” “He will”…

A crucible is defined by one dictionary as “a situation of severe trial, or in which different elements interact, leading to the creation of something new”. I find that fascinating, for there is mention even by definition of an elemental interaction before we can get to the something new. And consider this: apparently the latin root, crux, references back to the cross. In the medieval period, a “crucible” was a night lamp which illuminated that cross as the main point in the darkness.

Now, I wasn’t thinking of the cross when I painted this piece (though that reality certainly is prefigured in this Psalm 130: “willing to forgive” “loyal love” “sins” “deliver”. I was thinking of my own Psalm 129 type pain, which is spoken also in Psalm 42 “Why are you in despair, my soul? And why are you restless within me? Wait for God, for I will again praise Him For the help of His presence, my God.”

Both these cries were voiced and recorded by a God follower hundreds of years before the cross. Both of them were experienced on the cross. And both of them have been my experience. But like the focus forged inside the Psalmist’s heart, I have had to learn to look to the only fix that is solid and worth waiting for. Look at the mud color in my rendition of this hard place. The black and red intrusions show the pressure, and the paint application is fluid. There’s a linear mark indicating the cry upward, and in the distance, something comes clearer to focus on. That something is detailed by the Psalmist’s words about the abiding character of His God.

This to me, is the most important pivot in the entire collection of 15 Ascent Psalms. A lot of journey has been covered already. But there is nothing “automatic” about making it to the end intact with a heart that has stayed hot toward God. The choice of Psalm 130 is where that aim gets exampled.

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ambush

Where the reward took time and trust, we are suddenly thrust now into a reversal of fortune. The movement from Psalm 128 to 129 is the most drastic change in all the flow of this progression. Psalm 128 was enjoyment around a table of blessing. Psalm 129 is a cry of pain, and the scariest reality encountered in this entire 15 Psalm series of Ascent.

The fact that this can happen, and so suddenly begs some closer examination. What is the real nature of good things we enjoy? Good is typically something ‘organic’, that is, it grows with cultivation and care. Evil is like a car crash; you didn’t see it coming until it hit you.

Good is a crafted re-making. It’s participatory also: some one is involved with some stuff, and this emerges with grace (see the entire triplet just before 129 crashes into the story). Evil is autocratic, at its entry you had no say. This contrast was very evident in the beginning (read the 1st 3 chapters of Genesis). And both these realities, good and evil, have shown themselves as exhibits A-Z throughout all of human history. This is so anyone with eyes to see and a hungry, struggling heart can make up their own mind from their own experiences with good and with its opposite about which place they want to call home.

I’m calling it out: this obvious contrast between good and evil, and I am doing so because I don’t like to see what happens to people stuck in Psalm 129. I’ve hated, just viscerally hated being there myself. And I am bearing a deep sadness for a couple people I know who are there right now.

In this series of 15, we have now plunged into the 4th triplet. I’ve named it TRIAL. It begins hard and it becomes harder until some release at the end of this triplet. It is the most difficult to experience and the harshest visually. In my rendition you can see this with color, line and cords of pain. But paradoxically, this triplet (Ps.129-131) includes my very favorite and most practiced prayer. We’ll get there soon; but for now, don’t deflect the excruciating reality of this harsh place, it must be walked through before more can be realized.

Jesus carefully warned his intimates, in the last week of his life here about harsh times coming, saying that for many their “love will grow cold.” And hundreds of years earlier the prophet Habakkuk saw the same on the horizon “and I fear”.

It is an act of faith for God-followers to voice, out loud and to Him, when things get really tough, being honest with the One we say we trust. If He is real, then an expectation of justice is reasonable. If He is not real, then any words, and any expectations are entirely meaningless.

In the Jewish Talmud, Ben Bag-Bag said: “Turn it over, and [again] turn it over, for all is therein. And look into it; And become gray and old therein; And do not move away from it, for you have no better portion than it.”

I will just add (and it’s on good authority that I can) to Ben Bag-Bag’s wisdom, that the better portion is yet coming. Jesus and Habakkuk spoke of that also. This place of despair is not the end; it is only the voicing in the distress. We’re not finished yet. Even in Psalm 129 this expectation is hinted at, even as it trails off in sadness.

Psalm 129, a song of ascents

“Since my youth they have often attacked me,” let Israel say.
2 “Since my youth they have often attacked me, but they have not defeated me.
3 The plowers plowed my back; they made their furrows long.
4 The Lord is just;
he cut the ropes of the wicked.”
5 May all who hate Zion be humiliated and turned back.
6 May they be like the grass on the rooftops, which withers before one can even pull it up, 7 which cannot fill the reaper’s hand, or the lap of the one who gathers the grain.
8 Those who pass by will not say,
“May you experience the Lord’s blessing!
We pronounce a blessing on you in the name of the Lord.”

(NET version)

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reward realized

Patterns that come to our awareness reveal that something’s up. For example, leaves which have fallen to the ground are not surprising — there’s a randomness in the pile which I can easily ignore. But if on my sidewalk one Fall day, 15 colorful leaves are lined up pointing in the same direction, and every set of three repeats the same color progression: let’s say first a bright red; after that a solid yellow; thirdly a brilliantly splashed leaf of oranges over green (and then that pattern repeats 5x) probably anyone would puzzle instinctively that somebody set this up! We’d expect that there was some kind of intention, maybe lifting our eyes to look around for the instigator. Order is no accident; in fact, this is one of the foundational laws of thermodynamics: order is an intervention from typical randomness. And any pattern shows some causation which is bigger than the elements involved. Even newborns perk up at patterns with focused attention.

So it is with this collection of Psalms called “the Ascents” (120-134). There are five sets of triplets in this whole of 15 songs, all gathered to catch your interest. The entire collection is pointing the alert reader somewhere. These were often sung on an ascending journey. We’ve already mentioned in earlier posts the 1.2.3. cadence in this arrangement. The first Psalm in each triplet presented a problem, the second stated an act of reliance, and the third reported the resolution.

With Psalm 128 we’ve completed the third repeat of this triplet pattern. And I find it interesting (and compatible with life) that the problems of each subsequent triplet have magnified to more complex issues. The first set: 120-122 was about ENTRY, the second set: 123-125 about TEST, and the third we’re finishing now is about the reward in time of enjoying the FRUIT:

A song of ascents.

128 How blessed is every one of the Lord’s loyal followers,
each one who keeps his commands.
2 You will eat what you worked so hard to grow.
You will be blessed and secure.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
in the inner rooms of your house;
your children will be like olive branches,
as they sit all around your table.
4 Yes indeed, the man who fears the Lord
will be blessed in this way.
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
that you might see Jerusalem prosper
all the days of your life,
6 and that you might see your grandchildren.
May Israel experience peace.

(New English Trans.)

If you’ve been tracking these songs, you already read the longing for such fruit in Ps.126, then the implicit promise of it in Ps.127 to any who trusted in his Originator, now we have real experience of result.

I selected bright field colors for this one, in fact this is one of the brightest of the whole series as I have rendered them. We’re catching a thanksgiving moment here with lots of anticipation of good things. The paint is laid down thickly. It took time to see this emerge for me in a way that was satisfying. But if the viewer or singer enters into this, we’re still also in a real moment, one we can sense right now. A light bright rain is falling, the ground is wet, and the fruit is ready to be enjoyed.

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then ‘give it a REST’

In the middle of this triplet, Psalms 126-128, in fact right in the exact center of the entire set of 15 Ascent Psalms we’ve been tracking through, is a very surprising removal of sorts. God prompts the Psalmist on this journey to ‘give it a rest’ !

A song of ascents; by Solomon.

127 If the Lord does not build a house,
then those who build it work in vain.
If the Lord does not guard a city,
then the watchman stands guard in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise early, come home late,
and work so hard for your food.
Yes, he provides for those whom he loves even when they sleep.
3 Yes, sons are a gift from the Lord;
the fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 Sons born during one’s youth
are like arrows in a warrior’s hand.
5 How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.
They will not be put to shame when they confront enemies at the city gate.

Psalm 127 is the only contribution Solomon makes to this complied set of 15 Psalms. Why his voice inserted here, why these particular words, and why now?

The collections placed into this entire last set of Psalms were added into the Psalter some 500 years after Solomon’s time. A Psalm from Solomon’s voice is particularly really here, for God had long before said to Solomon’s father “a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest…his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days.”(1 Chronicles 22:9) So, before this Psalm recorder was born, and long after he had written these words, he was known as a man of rest. His name means the very same.

Add to this, that in the broader picture of this set of 15 Psalms we’ve already seen a pattern in each triplet, a meter of sorts 1. Distress, 2. Reliance and 3. Resolve. The distress we saw in the previous Psalm: “the dream” for a restoration from captivity. Solomon’s words are selected here for the reliance statement.

So then, how is his removal (my term) or his rest accomplishing anything having to do with the problem just spoken in Ps.126?

The young King Solomon, in Israel’s earlier history had been tasked with an immense project to lead the grand construction for what would be called Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. The history of his reign shows he was a very active leader. And so all the more poignant it is that this unique King, appointed to build, is the one who tells us that his work would be completely vain (a word he uses a lot in Ecclesiastes) apart from God being the builder, the watchman and the legacy giver. How does rest having anything to do with being a necessary builder?

And here is a broader highlight to his key idea that “He gives to His beloved even in his sleep” (vs.2b NASV). God does His very best work when we who’ve been diligently active are put to rest. And there’s a pattern here, for consider that when Eve was constructed, Adam was first put to sleep. Or when the grandest covenant was made with Abraham, that Abraham was put to sleep so that God alone would make and thereby fully guarantee the finish of everything He was promising there.

And so, when you put your head on your pillow, rest in real expectancy, for God gets His best work done when we are willing to give our dreams a trusting rest.

We’re on a journey in these 15 Psalms of Ascent, we’ve even seen a rest stop already. But here in the middle of the entire collection is a call, from the grandest builder to place our full reliance in the only One who builds the greatest things, even the children he gives to young parents. They will become rewards yet to see. And in the resolution of our grandest dreams, we will realize long beyond this trek is over, that He meant what he said “I will give you rest.” For active people on an active journey now, honoring His ability in our days is an act of faith.

Ascents sketch

When I display this collection of 15, they will be hung together like a table with each of three rows holding 5 Psalms. Here is a sketch of my plan and note that this Psalm 127 is exactly in the middle.

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The reoccurring dream

Some dreams are juxtapositions: headwork that a psychologist friend says are just “working out what we could not resolve in the day”. A few dreams are outright scary. Most dreams we can barely remember our sleeping heads having worked through. But some dreams become waking desires. We know those dreams are real because we keep casting our sights by them in some vague way. Do you know what I mean? When vague desire becomes purposeful steps, we are walking with the writers and travelers of the Psalms of Ascent.

We are in the 3rd triplet now of this 15 Psalm progression (see my last 6 posts). The first triplet’s theme was ENTRY, the second: TEST. This third has a more internal nature. I’ll give it a name once we’ve walked through all three in this set, for we are definitely heading somewhere — but sometimes it feels murky.

This Psalm begins with a historical reference, dating this Psalm after Israel’s exile “when the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion”. The writer says “we were (then) like those who dream…” He goes on with language which bursts with the realization that their corporate dream had became reality. But the last 3 verses of this Psalm express the same dream into present circumstance; it is therefore an ongoing need. The Psalmist now is “sowing tears”, “going to and fro”…carrying only seed. However the Psalm ends with an expectation of confidence; it’s a statement of trust. If real resolution came once before, it can come again.

Everyone has things they long for which are yet unrealized. Time tests whether that longing is a dangling shiny object or a much more substantive need.

All our dreams are a kind of aspiration, but some are rooted in confident hope which has been seeded by something ultimate which is beyond our scope. So it was, and so it continues in these Psalms.

A song of ascents.

126 When the Lord restored the well-being of Zion,
we thought we were dreaming.
2 At that time we laughed loudly
and shouted for joy.
At that time the nations said,
“The Lord has accomplished great things for these people.”
3 The Lord did indeed accomplish great things for us.
We were happy.
4 O Lord, restore our well-being,
just as the streams in the arid south are replenished.
5 Those who shed tears as they plant
will shout for joy when they reap the harvest.
6 The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag of seed,
will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain.

New English Translation

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rest stop

The meter has been established: a triplet tempo; and we’re about to finish the 2nd stanza of this collection of 15 Psalms. One could call the 1st stanza, or triplet of Psalms in this series of 15, an ENTRY into the journey back to Jerusalem from captivity. That journey was historically real from the 6th century BCE, but the entire song serves also as a type for any current pilgrim’s trek back into harmony with his Maker. Hence, we have the collection recorded for all of us in this songbook called the Psalms.; it’s a pattern of return which is timelessly relevant.

The second triplet (Psalms 123-125) is about the TESTING disruption on that way. The crucial pivot, the middle Psalm in this triplet, proclaimed the score (last post) and now we see the resolve from that test: enjoyment and some settled rest.

Every triplet ends in verbalized evidence of pause after recent tension. You’ll see this pattern 3 more times in this collection. Rest is such a gift from a good God.

So for now, let’s just enjoy the roadside view with the writer. He sounds like one who has learned something that is important to pass on for the encouragement of other trekkers. He speaks of the mountain ahead on the horizon and employs it as a metaphor for “those who trust in the Lord” “which cannot be moved” “will endure forever”. The writer adds that just as mountains surround Jerusalem up ahead, “so the Lord surrounds His people, now and forevermore”

Then, a vivid contrast is given about those who do wickedly: “those bent on traveling a sinful path”. And he ends with a stated aspiration for the trek that continues “may Israel experience peace.”

One cannot read this whole series of 15 without noticing the frequent and specific identifications of the land of Israel and Jerusalem to which they were returning. It was on their hearts, in their hopes and the direction for every step.

We have no specific attribution for who wrote this particular Psalm. Two of the fifteen we’ve already seen in this collection, and two more to come are attributed to David, the prolific psalm writer of Jewish history. Psalm 127 we’ll see soon, is attributed to David’s son Solomon. But 10 of the 15 selected for this collection of Ascents are anonymous writers, likely contemporary to the very journey this is referencing from Babylon back to Jerusalem. The inclusion of historical Psalms with contemporary expression fits with their walking experience. They refer to their past, they take heart in their present rest, and they therefore have great reason to look to their promised future. It’s an already/not yet celebration, grounded by the goodness of the Lord who inspired through many details of their history, present recognition and future confidence.

My painting reflects a binocular view of that aspired mountain up ahead. Of the 15 I’ve painted for this series, this is probably the most literal rendering. A traveler needs to see where he is aiming in order to stay on course.

125 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved and will endure forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
now and forevermore.
3 Indeed, the scepter of a wicked king will not settle
upon the allotted land of the godly.
Otherwise the godly
might do what is wrong.
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
to the morally upright.
5 As for those who are bent on traveling a sinful path,
may the Lord remove them, along with those who behave wickedly.
May Israel experience peace.

New English Translation

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