Tuesday, May 26 — Glad to Go
There is a kind of joy that shows up in your feet before it ever reaches your face. Psalm 122 is a song about that.
Psalm 122 — KJV 1 I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. 2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. 3 Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: 4 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD. 5 For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. 7 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. 8 For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. 9 Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.
Psalm 122 — WEB 1 I was glad when they said to me, "Let's go to Yahweh's house!" 2 Our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem! 3 Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together, 4 where the tribes go up, even Yah's tribes, according to an ordinance for Israel, to give thanks to Yahweh's name. 5 For there are set thrones for judgment, the thrones of David's house. 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Those who love you will prosper. 7 Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces. 8 For my brothers' and companions' sakes, I will now say, "Peace be within you." 9 For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God, I will seek your good.
Psalm 122 is one of the "Songs of Ascents" — a small collection of psalms (120 through 134) that Israelites sang as they walked up to Jerusalem for the great pilgrimage feasts. Three times a year they left their villages, gathered their families and provisions, and made the journey to the temple together. These songs were the music of the road. You can almost picture it: dust on sandals, kids riding on shoulders, conversation rising and falling, the whole crowd singing the same line as the city walls come into view.
What grabs me about this psalm is the very first word. "Glad." Not dutiful. Not punctual. Glad. The psalmist remembers the moment somebody said, "Let's go," and his whole spirit lifted. That's a feeling worth holding onto in a week about fellowship through worship. Worship was never meant to be the thing you have to drag yourself toward. It was meant to be the thing you can't quite wait for.
The psalm also makes a quiet point we should not miss. The pilgrim isn't going up by himself. The whole psalm is plural — let us go, our feet, my brethren and companions. Worship in Israel was a community act. The tribes went up together. They prayed for the peace of the city not just because they liked the architecture but because they loved the people who would be inside those walls with them. Fellowship through worship is not a phrase the psalmist would have needed explained to him. It was just how worship worked.
Now think about your own week. Most of us live in a culture that has done a thorough job convincing us we can do everything alone. Spiritual practice has been quietly rebranded as a private hobby — a podcast on the commute, a verse on the phone, a quiet moment with coffee. Those things are good. None of them are the whole thing. There is something Psalm 122 knows that we forget. Joy multiplies when you walk toward God with other people. The body remembers being in a room with other voices. The soul remembers being known.
If gathering has gotten hard lately — and for a lot of us it has, since the pandemic years rearranged habits we didn't know were that fragile — Psalm 122 is an invitation back. Not a guilt trip. An invitation. Someone is saying, "Let's go." May we be glad to hear it.
Thought for the Day: Joy walks with us toward the house of God.
Reflection: When was the last time I felt glad — not just willing — to gather with God's people?
Prayer: God, You have planted a longing in us to come home to You with others. Forgive the seasons we have let that longing go quiet. Stir up gladness in our feet again. Make us the kind of friend who says, "Let's go," and the kind of soul who is glad to hear it. Amen.
This week we walk toward Sunday's lesson: Fellowship Through Worship.