the journey (the second step)

Our journey towards God began a couple of weeks ago with a single step. That step, we discovered, involves a radical “about turn.” The first “song of ascents” (Psalm 120) paints the picture of a person who has made bad life choices. He finds himself in the orbit and influence of the ungodly. But having recognised the foolishness of his actions, he calls on the Lord and finds deliverance. The Lord graciously answers and rescues him (Psalm 120:1).  

And so the adventure of pilgrimage begins…

However, Psalm 121 (our next “song of ascents”) immediately points to some of the challenges we face along the way. “I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? (verse 1). “Lifting our eyes to the hills” might suggest looking for signs of an attacking force, or, perhaps, the pilgrim was thinking about the dangerous regions he had to pass through in order to reach Jerusalem, especially the mountain hideouts of menacing robbers.

The same is true for Christians in every generation. To the ordinary cares of life in this fallen world there springs the special challenges a believer faces in a society that does not accept or recognise the authority of Christ. 

The psalmist, however, finds an immediate response to his question. And what encouragement is to be found in it. My help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth” (verse 1). 

What is God’s help? 

Tim Keller says, “It is spiritual refreshment (shade, verse 5) through his presence. It is God’s enabling to avoid foot slipping or sin (verse 3; cf Psalm 73:2).” 

And so from this beloved Psalm (and one embedded in Scottish church culture) two thoughts strike me on my own pilgrimage.

➡️ I look up from my limited perspective. 

There is so much I can’t see and many things that remain uncertain in my walk with God.

But this I also know…

➡️ The Lord looks down from his all encompassing vantage point.

The psalmist tells us five times over in this Psalm that the Lord watches over our lives. "The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore" (verse 8). As Jesus taught in John 14, he has not secured our eternal home only to lose us in earthy troubles! The eternal work of redemption is part of our present security. 

The Lord is…

…transcendent yet imminent…

   …high above us yet close beside us…

As the renowned Scottish churchman, Thomas Chalmers said,

"When I walk by the wayside, he (God) is along with me. When I enter into company amid all my forgetfulness of him, he never forgets me. In the silent watches of the night, when my eyelids are closed and my spirit has sunk into unconsciousness, the observant eye of him who never slumbers is upon me. I cannot flee His presence, go where I will. He leads me and watches me and cares for me. And the same Being who is now at work in the remotest dominions of nature and of providence is also at my hand, to give to me every moment of my being, and to uphold the exercise of all my feelings and of all my faculties."

(Picture - path from Strathblane to Dumgoyne)

the journey

You are most likely to be familiar with the saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” As a literal undertaking or as a metaphorical notion, the idea of a journey is embedded in what it means to be human. 

Life is a journey. 

Another famous saying connected to this thought emphasises that, “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey”. However, that way of thinking does not square with a Christian understanding of our walk through this world. To explore this idea I’d like to dip into a small collection of Psalms that are entitled the “Songs of Ascents” (Psalms 120-134). The ‘ascents’ alluded to here are most likely to be the ones made by Israelites who journeyed to Jerusalem to celebrate one of the great annual festivals (see Leviticus 23). Presumably, these songs were sung along the way and marked the progress of the journey and expressed the concerns of the pilgrims as they remembered those at home and anticipated their arrival and experience in Jerusalem.

Eugene Peterson says that this group of Psalms enable us to reflect on two biblical definitions for the people of God that are extremely useful: disciple and pilgrim (from his book, “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction").

Disciple says we are people who spend our lives apprenticed to our master, Jesus Christ. We are in a growing, learning relationship with him, always.

Pilgrim tells us we are people who spend our lives going someplace. We are going to God, and the path for getting there is the Way, Jesus Christ.

So let’s take the first step on this journey. And to help us make it we turn to the first song in the collection, Psalm 120. It is not a beautiful song. It is harsh. It is discordant. But it gets us started.

Psalm 120 doesn’t actually speak of going on a pilgrimage. It does, however, express the feelings of a homesick person who has settled in a strange land. “Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kebar! Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am for peace; but when I speak they are for war” (verses 5-7). The psalmist is in despair about the surroundings he finds himself in and longs to be in a better place. He recognises that the first step is to turn his back on the lifestyle he has chosen up until this point. 

The word the Bible uses for the moment we turn from our foolish ways to God and the life of his kingdom is repentance. 

Before I can follow the way of God and the right paths he has set for me (Psalm 23:3), I must turn from the self-centred course that I have travelled to date. There is therefore genius in making Psalm 120 the opening “song of ascents”. 

The first step on the journey to God begins with a radical “about turn.”

This is set out beautifully in a passage from the Yom Kippur liturgy entitled, “The Gates of Repentance.”

''Now is the time for turning. The leaves are beginning to turn from green to red to orange. The birds are beginning to turn and are heading once more toward the south. The animals are beginning to turn to storing their food for the winter. For leaves, birds and animals, turning comes instinctively. But for us, turning does not come so easily. It takes an act of will for us to make a turn. It means breaking old habits. It means admitting that we have been wrong, and this is never easy. It means losing face. It means starting all over again. And this is always painful. It means saying I am sorry. It means recognising that we have the ability to change. These things are terribly hard to do. But unless we turn, we will be trapped forever in yesterday's ways. 

Lord help us to turn, 

  from callousness to sensitivity, 

    from hostility to love, 

      from pettiness to purpose,

        from envy to contentment, 

          from carelessness to discipline, 

            from fear to faith. 

Turn us around, O Lord, and bring us back toward you. Revive our lives as at the beginning, and turn us toward each other, Lord, for in isolation there is no life.''

(Picture - Rannoch Moor)