This psalm is the first of the four Songs of Ascents attributed to King David. He wrote it both for what Jerusalem was in his own day and for what it would become under his son and their successors. Having built the city, David never made the journey to Jerusalem as a pilgrim, so he wrote with those who travelled great distances in mind, imagining how they would rejoice from the moment they planned their pilgrimage until the moment they arrived.
The psalm is a reminder that those raised in families of faith are not the only ones who worship. Those from outside the faith often come to God with great vigour and serve Him more vibrantly than those born into the family of believers. It also helps us to understand the joy in the hearts of Gentiles when they first hear the Gospel and come to God. When Philip proclaimed the Gospel in Samaria, there was great joy in that city (Acts 8:8). What Jesus told the Samaritan woman was fulfilled after His crucifixion and resurrection (John 4:23-24).
Accepting The New Believers
I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built like a city
that is closely compacted together.
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. Psalm 122:1-4 (NIV)
King David had every right to keep Jerusalem, the city he had built, for himself. Yet he had a heart to welcome all the tribes who came to it in search of God.
We begin proclaiming the Gospel on a small scale, then grow into an organisation or a church, closely knit together as the people of God. Although our aim is to spread God’s love to the Gentiles, we somehow fail to welcome new believers into our inner circle, our own family of faith. We keep them at a distance and merely tell them of God’s love. Unless we see through Christ’s eyes, we cannot see transformed sinners for what they are; to us, they remain sinners. The Pharisees did the same with the man born blind. Though he had received his sight and become a new creature, they still regarded him as one born in sin (John 9:34).
Likewise, we treat new believers as errand-runners or employees, but never give them the chance to become employers. We call them brothers and sisters, yet we never allow them to become part of our families. However well we may cover up this flaw, it will come to light when new believers are abandoned by their own community and we are still unwilling to give them our daughters or take their daughters for our sons. We keep them at arm’s length, yet still claim to be Gospel workers. We may fool the people of our own community, but we cannot fool God, who commanded us to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth. We cannot ration the love of God in proportion to the years someone has spent in the faith. If that is our attitude, it would be better not to invite them at all. They would be more at ease where they are, for God loved and stayed close to them so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him. He is not far from any one of us (Acts 17:27-28). Unaware of God’s purpose in placing them there, pastors often advise new converts who live alone among idol worshippers to abandon their families. This torments them, and it robs them of the chance to shine for Jesus in the darkest corners of their own families.
God asks us to cut off our old life of sin, but He never asks us to cut ourselves off from the family He has given us. At times He separates us from our families, not permanently but for a season, so that we may spend time with Him alone and learn to love our own family members through Him.
David loved God and thus loved the people who were coming to God more than the city he had built. He could imagine how they felt on reaching a place where they could worship God, for in those days Jerusalem was believed to be the place where people could worship the LORD. The Samaritan woman had this doubt in her heart. Her ancestors had worshipped on the mountain, and she asked Jesus why the Jews claimed that one should worship only in Jerusalem (John 4:20).
What we must understand is that, whatever effort and sacrifice we put into forming a church, we have done nothing to save perishing souls from eternal death. God gave His only Son to save our souls from perishing. We are witnesses to what God has done in our lives, not the ones who transform hearts to leave the old and embrace the new. Keeping this in mind, we should not become the barriers to any one who is coming to God.
Thrones For Judgement
There stand the thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure.
May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels. Psalm 122:5-7 (NIV)
As the kingdom grew, David could no longer hear every case alone. He established a formal administration of officials, recorders and commanders to uphold justice across the land. Later in his reign, he appointed Levites in their thousands as officers and judges throughout the territories (1 Chronicles 23:4, 26:29). With this in mind, we can understand why David prayed for the city he had established. He sought God’s peace upon its officials, that they might make right decisions, and he prayed also for their protection. When we admire Solomon for asking God for wisdom to govern the people (1 Kings 3:9), we should remember that he may have learnt that prayer from his father, who prayed for peace to all those he had appointed.
Taking this as a lesson, just as Solomon prayed for wisdom, we too should pray for wisdom to secure our salvation, and then for wisdom and opportunity to spread the love of God to others wherever we now live. We should pray for peace to prevail in our neighbourhoods, our churches and our communities. Sadly, people seldom pray for the place where God has set them, yet they pray fervently for Jerusalem. Servants of God quote “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” to urge people to pray for Jerusalem, and then organise tours so that believers may travel to Israel in person and pray for its protection. At present, Jerusalem is the designated capital of Israel, while Tel Aviv serves as the country’s primary financial, economic, and technological hub. However, Jerusalem is not recognized internationally as part of either Israel or Palestine alone, because both sides claim the city as their capital. May God open our eyes, which have been blinded by the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4), so that we will pray for every nation, because every country belongs to God.
House Of The LORD
For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity. Psalm 122:8-9 (NIV)
A field yields more when it is surrounded by blooming flowers, chiefly because of pollinator spillover acts as a natural pest control. In the same way, when God says, “I will bless you above all peoples (Deuteronomy 7:14),” He intends us to pray for the blessings of others, so that He will lift us along with them. Yet we often pray for their downfall, or we grow content with our present state, unaware of the blessings God has kept in store for us. Only when the people and families around us are blessed and at peace can we too have peace of mind.
David understood that the peace of the city matters. He prayed for the peace of those who dwelt in it so that the tabernacle of God might be at peace. Today, the teachings of Jesus and the love of God are not spreading as they should. Believers keep the teachings for themselves and their families and have no heart to share them with others. We ourselves are the temple of God, and if we want this temple to be at peace, we must pray for the peace of others as well. Yet we fail to tell our fellow citizens the good news that God forgave their sin two thousand years ago. Instead, we label them as idol worshippers and press them to abandon their idols and come to church to worship the Living God.
They are then asked to undergo immersion baptism as a public profession of their belief that God has forgiven their sin so that they can be enrolled in the congregation. Newcomers often do not understand what it means to profess their faith in public, and are led to believe that baptism has cleansed them of all their sin. Yet most people see no difference between dipping themselves in a tank of water in the church and bathing in some holy river as prescribed by the religions of the world. Until we make them aware that their sins are already forgiven, preserving our faith while living among them will remain a challenge.
David spoke of seeking prosperity, but however prosperous we may be, if we lack the spiritual maturity and peace that God Himself imparts to our hearts, everything will work together for the destruction of our souls. Only if we love God will all things work together for good (Romans 8:28).
God, help us to pray and to secure the salvation You have given us freely, so that as Your temple we may spend our lives as living witnesses to people who are frantically searching for the true God and His love. Amen.
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