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Pilgrimage

Psalm 120 is the first of a little song book called the Songs of Ascent. It is possible that Psalms 120 - 134 are a collection of songs sung by pilgrims who made their way from all over the world to the temple atop Mt. Zion in order to worship in the presence of the LORD.

I just reached Psalm 120 in my daily scripture readings. It is an interesting little psalm, and the appropriate place for us to begin our own spiritual journeys into the presence of the LORD. The psalmist is in distress. Apparently he lives far away from Mt. Zion, among a people who are anything but godly. The overall tone is one of dissatisfaction. Psalm 120:6 says, "Too long have I lived among those who hate peace." He finds himself out of place, out of step, he is uncomfortable, he is fed up and now something must be done. For too long he has done nothing, but now he can not continue to maintain the status quo. Being one of the songs of ascent, we assume that what he will do is go on a pilgrimage to Mt. Zion. He will leave everything else behind, everyone else behind, and make his journey into the presence of the LORD.

We call this repentance, and repentance is always the proper place to begin any pilgrimage into the Presence. We begin our journey when we are dissatisfied with the status quo and know we need a change. We know Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, so we leave all else behind and start traveling along The Way. The journey of faith may not be an easy one, but it has to be better than where we are now.

What about you? Are your bags packed?

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