Psalm 120

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0:00 Let's pray together. Hey, Lord, thank you that you have the capacity to empathize with us, that you leave us alone, that we, Lord, are familiar with fear, but also with your love and companionship that can overwhelm and move aside all the negative emotions.

0:32 We ask, Lord, that you would come and join us this morning. Indeed, you're the reason that we have come. We're here to meet with you. So come and meet with us in the quiet places of our hearts and minds this morning, in the voices that we hear from each other and the friendships that we cultivate as we spend time together this morning. Be with us this morning, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. For the last several weeks now, we've been thinking about what it means that we live

1:05 in a post-Pentacost world, like that original life-giving spirit at a point in time and space was released again upon humanity and considering what we ought to do with it. You know, that what's encouraging to me is that your charge in life is not a churchy charge.

1:38 You do not exist merely to recruit people to show up somewhere on Sunday morning. That you're not merely a recruitment tool for the reign of God. That the Holy Spirit of God has a deeper, more adventurous calling on your life than that. And that's what we've been looking at last several weeks.

2:12 That He has gifted you with the capacity to be a priest for the reign of God out in the world, to mediate the holiness of the Creator God out into the world. That He has imbibed you with the willingness and the capacity to love in a way that substantiates people, that builds families, that He has called you to build families around you. And to take those families and move them into church communities, your greatest glimpse

2:46 of the kingdom of God, this side of the grave. And to recognize that those churches are situated inside of cities. And that we, the church, are the ones called to work for the welfare of the city. We make places better because we are here. And it's in that context that we understand our jobs, working for the welfare of the people around us. That whole kind of, that system of thinking fits for me under this idea of vocation, which

3:19 is kind of a cornerstone of my way of thinking about God, that He has set us with vocational purpose out in the world. And I feel like, I love to talk, if that brought up questions over for you over the course of the weeks, if you're thinking about what it means to love in a way that substantiates families, how can your work be leveraged for the welfare of the city, what does it mean to be fully present and to bring your family to be fully present.

3:52 And I want to talk more about that. Find me and I'd love to have that conversation. What I'd love to do for the next several weeks, what we're going to do for the next several weeks is look at like one whole little section of scripture. I feel like this time of year, it feels like we're starting new things. And either you are coming off of a summer season where you are recharged and ready to start new things. Or you feel like you're coming to the end of something and you are falling across a

4:27 finish line and expected to start again. And or maybe it's a mix of the two. But I was thinking about that. I've been feeling like there's a lot of new things starting in my life. I feel like there's projects coming, there's new relationships cultivating, there's work to be done. And I feel more like I'm falling across a finish line than I'm limbering up and ready

4:58 to start. Lately it feels like the tasks keep coming every day and there's never enough time to get them all done. And one of the places that is a comfort for me in those seasons of life is this little book of Psalms called The Psalms of Ascent. And so for the next several weeks we're going to just consider these Psalms, the Psalms of Ascent. And so they're in the book of Psalms and they're organized altogether. It's Psalm 120 through 134.

5:30 There's 15 of them. We probably won't look at each of them individually. Most scholars think that there's 15, like all of the Psalms, the Psalm book, the 150 Psalms are not arranged chronologically. They're not even usually arranged topically. It's not like all of the lament Psalms are here and all of the praise Psalms are here. So it's hard to figure out a real order.

6:01 We're not 100% clear on who wrote all 150 Psalms. But these Psalms of Ascent right here in 120 through 134 all carry the same superscription over top of them, the same heading. In the Hebrew they're called the Psalms of Ascent. And so that makes like this tight little book. And most theologians think that there's 15 because there's a little section in the temple where there was exactly 15 steps as you were moving up into the temple.

6:36 And so a lot of theologians think that these Psalms, the Psalms of Ascent were originally collected together to be a liturgical reading, one for each step as you ascend into the temple. And then most people think that because of that they became Psalms that groups of folks would celebrate together as they were moving towards the high holy feast days. So that these would be songs you might sing together.

7:08 The number core to our people, the people of God is song. The oldest form of Hebrew that we have in the Old Testament is the song of Miriam, sung to celebrate the crossing of the Red Sea. We think the first thing our people wrote down was a song of praise. Songs have always been core to our people and theologians think these Psalms of Ascent have been used to move towards the high holy days. I told the story before but to give you a picture of it, you may remember this story

7:42 about Jesus when he goes, one of the only childhood stories we have of Jesus is he's a young boy and he goes with Mary and Joseph and his family up to Jerusalem for the feast. And he goes into the temple and starts asking the rabbis questions and must have gotten a little carried away. I don't know exactly what the culture was in the temple but it seems like he stayed there because his parents went back home several days walk and then realized later that they

8:17 forgot Jesus, their son. And so they had to make their way back to the temple to find him. They weren't sure he was at the temple and that's when he says, you know, I'd be about my father's business. But the reason I tell you that story is not to point out that Mary and Joseph were bad parents. I don't think Mary and Joseph were bad parents. They did all right. Jesus got the job done, right? I don't think Mary and Joseph were bad parents. I think the culture of folks, they would go together like in big family groups.

8:55 So beautiful. Like whole family group trips up to Jerusalem walking for several days together to the high feast days and then back again. They just assumed Jesus was with someone else. And when everybody goes to their home, they start looking around for where their kid is and they can't find him. We don't have experiences like that. I think they would do it for two reasons. One, it's more fun to go with other families.

9:27 And two, very practically, the roads are not safe. So it's better if there's a whole group of you. It's harder to rip off a whole group of you than it is to beat up and mug one little family with kids. And so most theologians think that these Psalms of a sense were sung together as they were moving their way up to Jerusalem. And I want to look at the first one together. Psalm 120. Psalms are pretty easy to find if you have a paper copy of the scriptures there, right close to the middle, just left or the middle usually.

10:00 If you get to Proverbs or Song of Songs or Isaiah, go back to the left. If you get to Job and Chronicles and stuff, go to the right. Psalm 120. It says, deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given to you and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue,

10:33 O warrior's sharp arrows, with glowing coals from the broom tree. Woe to me that I sojourn in Machek and I dwell among the tents of Qadar. Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. I am for peace when I speak there for war. First thing to understand this Psalm is at the beginning, he is using the past tense in my distress. I called to the Lord and he answered me.

11:07 He's about to tell us that there was a period when he was in distress. And in that period he called out to the Lord and the Lord answered him. Being in a sense doesn't mean that God is not near.

11:37 There was a period when I was in a state of distress I called out to the Lord and he answered me. So often periods of pain or hardship or confusion make us think that God is far from us. Certainly he must be. That's the only reason he would allow us to be going through this. Look, I don't know why we encounter pain, hardship and distress, but I know Jesus did. So the more I start to look like him, move towards the life I was made for, which is

12:09 modeled for me by Jesus of Nazareth, I will encounter pain, hardship and distress. I just will. The Psalmist says, there was a period where I was in pain, hardship and distress and rather than throw up my hands at my pain, give in to my sorrow, quit in my distress. Be sure that the one I had counted on had abandoned me, give up on him and find my own way. In my distress he says, I called out to the Lord and the Lord answered me.

12:44 Praise God. And then verse two gives the call. Here's what he called. There was a time when I was in distress I called out to the Lord and answered me and then he gives it to us. He shows us what the call out was. For me, oh Lord, from these lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. Apparently somebody is lying to him or he is being lied to.

13:26 This was clear to me, I feel like the lies I get all the time are not like, though I have experienced people misrepresenting what they think, like lying straight to my face. That usually rolls off my back. The lies that get me are like the lie of where happiness is, where satisfaction is, where fulfillment is. Somehow all of a sudden I find myself like focused all the time on building up more money

14:02 on convincing some person to like me. On matching some notion of what success looks like, I find myself chasing a lie a lot. Like here's where happiness is. And it's a hard thing to catch because there are deceitful lips and tongues all around me. So he calls out, he realizes whatever the situation, the psalmist says, I'm in distress.

14:35 Oh Lord, deliver me. There's lies all around me. And I feel like, I don't know, I'm reading into a little bit and maybe it's where I'm at, but I feel exhaustion in the psalm. Like if he could handle the lies, he wouldn't be calling out. There is a resignation in the psalmist like, oh God, would you solve this problem? I cannot find a way.

15:09 This is encouraging to me that there is testimony of one who is confused and exhausted and yet calls out to God for deliverance. Verse three, this is the answer. But shall be given to you and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue.

15:42 God's saying to the tongues that are lying, a warrior's sharp arrow with glowing coals from the broom tree. It's like contextually, if you do a lot of work in the psalms, it's not a leap to say that there are arrows of truth and coals of judgment. So like if you are well versed in the psalms and the language of the psalms, arrows might be a short way of saying arrows of truth and coals might be a short way of saying coals

16:12 of judgment. And this is really interesting because it's not an idea that we are usually comfortable with. The psalmist says, I'm confused, I'm exhausted, I feel like I'm being lied to all the time. Lord, would you come and deliver me? And the answer that the Lord gives him preserved for us in the story of Scripture is I will shoot arrows of truth at the ones that are lying to you and I will heap coals of judgment upon them. Like I will get the ones who are lying to you.

16:50 In my situation, I don't have specific people in mind, just with that. But I do have like in general the system that makes my life hard. Like we're so used to like work being exhausting and confusing and making it hard to get out of bed. We're so used to challenges in communication where even the ones we love deeply, we get

17:25 crossed up and feel unsafe and vulnerability is challenging and hard. We're so used to life being hard. We've forgotten that God is prepared a place for us where life will be easy. Where work will be adventure, where relationships will be fortifying and life giving, where the hardship of life will be burned down to nothing so that the goodness of life will

17:56 emerge. You'll be fully who you want to be without the lies and deceit of the world. This is a good way to start a journey. Lord, I am in distress and confused and so I call out to you. Would you deliver me? And God's response, yes.

18:27 Yes, I will deliver you. Judgment for your adversaries. Truth in the place of lies. And then the Psalmist finishes. He steps back out. He gave us a glimpse into his call and God's response. And then verse 5, woe to me that I sojourn in M'Shek that I dwell among the tents of Qadar.

18:57 It's good to remember that as beautiful as the Psalms are, as devotional as they can be for us, we are not the first hearers. Raise your hand if you know where M'Shek and Qadar are. It wasn't intended. Its first audience didn't read it with confusion. They knew where those two places were. You and I are like passengers in a history of our people's relationship with God.

19:34 The scriptures were not written directly to you. The Holy Spirit will speak to you through them, but they are a record of historical people moving through real world. So a little bit, there's like some debate on the translation of one of these words. And one way, it's like a figurative place and an actual place right next to each other. The way most people translate it, the way I just read it in this ESV and it is in your NIV there, is it's two places on the opposite side of Israel.

20:09 One person does not live in both of these places. They are very far apart. Then what they are suggesting is that the eye is Israel itself. And you can see how if you are in Nazareth starting on your three day journey to Jerusalem and you would say, in my distress I called to the Lord and he answered me.

20:41 Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongue and the Lord responds, what shall be given to you? There is a truth and a cold of judgment. And then you say, whoa am I for I sojourn in Mckesh and that I dwell in the tents of Qadar in these places that are not home. Among a people who are different, whoa to me that I am not home, that I have to journey

21:18 sojourn to the place where I belong. This is true for the people of God everywhere in the world. It's why our lives are hard. It's why you will find distress and confusion.

22:02 This theme of being different comes up in the New Testament in a couple of places. It's actually in 1 John which we read for our call to worship. I'll just point your eyes to it real quickly because I think sometimes we have trouble with this idea. First John writes the letter, John does to all of the church in Asia Minor, spread throughout. And in 215 he says, do not love the world or the things in the world.

22:36 If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world desires the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires but whoever does the will of God abides forever, the people of God throughout the history from the Psalmist in 120 through Jesus of Nazareth all the way to 1 John and down through the ages of the church to today, the people

23:09 of God have always felt uncomfortable in the world at odds with the systems of the world as though they are living amongst liars and deceitful ways of thinking. They are in opposition to the things of the world. You and I as we move towards the life we were made for we will find increasing friction in the world. It just will.

23:40 It doesn't mean you are doing things wrong. It doesn't mean that he has left you. Wowed to me that I sojourn in Ms. Shek that I dwell among the tents of Qadar. Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace. He says I am for peace. But when I speak they are for war.

24:16 As I have started to take seriously this like notion that the way of the reign of God will be different than the way of the reign of the world has pushed me into questions of what does justice look like. How do I not just go along with the systems of justice of the world that are broken and actually unjust. What does my notion of generosity look like. How do I push against the materialism of the world that I am living in and move towards

24:49 a heart and a posture of generosity. As we move towards the reign of God, as we begin a journey from Nazareth or Qadah or M'Shek, as we move from wherever we live towards the reign of God, we recognize that much of our way of thinking is different than that of the world.

25:22 And it makes life hard when you are not okay with the way immigrants are treated at the borders. When you are not okay with the legacies of slavery in the United States. When it is not okay the ways that we have built, subjugate systems around the world to bring us our phones or our clothes or our food or our cars or our coffee.

25:54 Whatever it is, it makes life harder. The study I was doing pointed me to a section in Romans when it said that I want peace but I live among the people of war in Romans 12. It said what is our attitude? We are different. Aliens and strangers in the world.

26:24 We think differently. What do we do with that difference? Paul says in Romans, bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Never be conceited. Repay no one evil for evil but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all if possible so far as it depends on you. Live peaceably with all. Beloved never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written,

26:59 vengeance is mine and I will repay as the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry feed him, if he is thirsty give him something to drink. For by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not overcome evil with evil but overcome evil with good. You and I are moving through a world that is broken and hard filled with deceit and lies

27:31 but we are not staying here. We are moving to a world that is easy. Where the yoke is easy and the burden is light where the future is secure where the provision is solid. You and I are moving through with the God who will defend us. We don't need to defend ourselves. He will shoot arrows of truth. He will heap coals of justice. Do and I move through a world that is different and hard with love and generosity because

28:08 we know where we are going. That sounds really good to me. I love the idea. I love the image of that. I aspire to be a person like that. I aspire to be kind of confusing to the people around me where they can't quite figure out. They can't put me into a box or understand. They just know that he seems at peace and generous.

28:43 I aspire to be that kind of person. But what I have come to realize is that I cannot manufacture it. I have a decent amount of willpower so I can grit my teeth and be kind and generous. But I run out of energy. When I feel myself running out of energy, I realize that I have been trying to force myself to be the person of God with the power of my will.

29:14 This psalm calls me to something else because in his moment of distress, he didn't try harder. He called out to the Lord in his distress. The most encouraging thing about Psalm 120 as we start journeys towards new things is the posture that recognizes how fraught the world is. In the midst of that, doesn't try and solve it. Just calls out to the Lord and says, meet me in mind.

29:45 O Lord, deliver me today. I pray that you could be people who start your days and your projects and your journeys and your jobs with that attitude. I know I am in a place that is fraught. O Lord, deliver me today. Defend me today. Go with me today.

30:17 Let's pray together. Hey, Lord, deliver us today from all of the lies and the distress and the war, the confusion, the brokenness. Deliver us today and give us confidence in your defense that allows us to move through places of war as agents of peace.

30:48 Lord, give us the confidence in your deliverance that we could move through places of war as agents of peace for you. Hey, and when the time is right, Lord, call us home where life is easy. In Jesus' name, amen.