Movie stars, sportsman, wealthy businessmen, rock stars all deal with it & yes even us we all have to deal with success. As Charles Dickens the writer of Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Bleak House once said “There is never enough time to do or say all the things that we would wish; The thing is to do as much as you can in the time that you have”[1] The question is have you ever had that experience of trying to achieve something so bad that once you have it, it then left you feeling hollow and empty? It could have been at work or a degree
a hobby a family, children, a social standing, a race you wanted to run or a mountain you wanted to climb. The thing is that now it’s done you hunger for something more instead of elation you feel conscious of “a deadness inside me”[2] Success can be a bitter pill. It can be the same experience spiritually. There are times we feel the blessing from God, and other times when we feel a deadness as well, asking ourselves what’s next. Psalm 134 reminds us God wants us to finish well; as our spiritual journey with Jesus began with repentance. This Psalm reminds us to conclude our lives praising God.
So what does Psalm 134 have to teach us?
This Psalm ends on what is actually a journey through these Psalms of ascents themselves. We are called to remember when we started these Psalms of Ascents back in Psalm 120. Back at slam 120 we started out a long way from Jerusalem, back in places called Meschech, the step dwellers of the far north, and Kedar a place in Arabia to the south east. These were places God’s people had been dispersed to; or who lived as exiles or through looking to make a new beginning. These people a long way from their spiritual home. Some of these pilgrims had journey for days, some weeks, some even for months. Now as we come to Psalm 134, the last of the Psalms of Ascents, it is only fitting that the Psalm ends with their full arrival in the temple itself, and as these pilgrim are about to step into the temple the question is on their lips, what does God have in store? We are left asking what will happen now? The Psalmist answers with praise, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, May the Lord bless you. Like we read in verse 2
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.
Those words we read here “in the sanctuary”. In the original Hebrew is only one word for that and that’s ‘Holiness’. Which can mean that holiness is either one of two things: either holiness as in to sanctify (to have relationship with God); or holiness as place of worship as in sanctuary. That is to sanctify, as in experiencing the state of holiness is that sense of God only accepts the prayers and praise of those who are clean. As we read in Psalm 66:18
18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
The other way sanctuary can be used is as in the place in the temple where the light and the incense burned and where only the priests and the Levites had access to worship in worshipping in holiness in the sanctuary. We know that because verse 1 tells us the context of this Psalm
1 Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD.
In the temple there were singers on hand day and night. The Priests who served there all the time worshipping God; their job was to lead worship. (If you want to find out more about that look up 1 Chronicles chapter 9 and chapter 25 where that’s spelt out a little more.) So We can’t help miss the point of this Psalm. It’s what keeps on being repeated Praise the Lord, live a life of praise as blessing comes from God. It is just like if he can do something so large as to make the whole world; he can do something so small as to bless us. Verse 3 May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who is the Maker of heaven and earth. The pilgrims who journey far come to Jerusalem and now had come up to the temple steps. Arriving at Mount Zion, the City of God and coming to worship God. The question is do we wait expectantly on God? Do we expect God to be at work in our lives? Do we come determined to worship God when we get here? That word bless is expressed as praise of God in verse 1 & 2 of this Psalm is now again repeated in the last verse it is directed from God to us “May the LORD bless you.” This is an unequal relationship God must give us something we don’t have, and make us the people we are not quite yet, as praise requires acknowledging who God is. What we need most is his mercy and forgiveness and to become aware of just how God has blessed us already; just as we see this Psalm which is linked with the previous Psalm of Ascent Psalm 133 “For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.”
What does that mean for me as a pilgrim following Jesus today?
Psalm 134 challenges us on how we run at life, how we come to gather with God’s people. As someone puts it like this…
O God …“Rescue me from the lies of advertisers who claim to know what I need and what I desire, from the lies of entertainers who promise a cheap way to joy, from the lies of politicians who pretend to instruct me in power and morality, from the lies of psychologists who offer to shape my behaviour and my morals so that I will live long, happily, successfully, from the lies of the religionists who “heal the wounds of this people lightly”, from the lies of moralists who pretend to promote me to the office of captain of my fate, from the lies of pastors who “get rid of God’s command so you won’t be inconvenienced in following the religious fashions!” (Mark 7:8). Rescue me from the person who tells me of life and omits Christ, who is wise in the ways of the world and ignores the movement of the Spirit.”[3]
Jesus has a lot to say to us about who we are now. We are described as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us.
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Jesus intercedes for us. His death for us now allows us access to God. He who knew no sin became sin for us so that we could be forgiven. Jesus enables us to have that relationship with God in the first place like Hebrews 12:22-24 says a little later.
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
This is an image of the church at worship. This Psalm is a gift from God in preparing ourselves for worship together. So if you are feeling embarrassed or ashamed of the week you’ve lived. You’re still here come praise God. Seek his mercy come to his Son for forgiveness his cross reminds you that God’s forgiveness of our dark vile sin is real he can and does wash our sins away. Today we are here because God blessed you, as this Psalmist tells us not to stay away until the mood is right, praise the Lord because we might just see even when our thoughts aren’t in it; that is we suddenly realise the reality of God’s nearness again. These words from this Psalm are to inspire, and they are the antidote to any deadness we may feel; praising God will take us a lifetime to achieve. As Jesus saw it in Luke 15:7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. It is the joy this Psalmist repeats. I’ll close simply reading this Psalm again
1 Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister by night in the house of the LORD. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.
3 May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who is the Maker of heaven and earth.
David Hassan @ Tamworth Community Presbyterian Church 1-10-17
[1] http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/never_enough/
[2] Peterson, Eugene A Long Obedience in the same direction, Downer Grove, Illinois, IVP, 2000.p189-190. This quote is taken of Richard Nixon win for the presidency and of Charles Colson reaction to that win as part of his campaign team
[3] Eugene Peterson A long obedience in the Same direction, p 27