“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD!’” (Psalm 122:1).
This psalm of David is one of the fifteen “Songs of Ascent,” a collection arranged in the Psalter for pilgrims to sing as they journeyed upward toward Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. These songs prepared worshipers for meeting with God, together with His people, in His holy house. Psalm 122 especially captured the joyful anticipation of believers who loved gathering with the covenant community. When others invited David to go up to the house of the Lord, he responded with gladness, not out of duty but out of devotion. His delight came not only from entering the sacred courts but from doing so with fellow believers, all traveling together toward Mount Zion.
Today, visitors to Jerusalem will often see fellow pilgrims, with Bibles in hand, pausing on each of the fifteen Southern steps leading up to the ancient Temple, reciting these fifteen Songs of Ascent. Having stood on those very steps myself, I can imagine David’s joy as he heard the call to worship and eagerly joined others on the upward path to meet with the Lord in worship.
Is your heart stirred with gladness at the thought of gathering with God’s people in worship? True worship flows from devotion, not mere duty. When we eagerly join with other believers in worship, we can experience a kind of spiritual ascent, lifting our eyes and hearts up to the Lord. Yet we must recognize the danger in our day, just as the book of Hebrews warned, of “forsaking the assembly” of believers (Heb. 10:25). Many have grown cold or complacent, exchanging joy-filled gathering for isolation or for other lessor things. Let us renew our commitment to love the fellowship of the redeemed, to seek the presence of God together, and to respond with glad anticipation whenever we hear the invitation, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
PRAYER: Dear Father, we thank You for the joy of gathering with Your people and meeting You in worship. Stir our hearts with glad anticipation and guard us from neglecting the blessing of assembling together. Make us a devoted people who love Your presence and Your house. In Jesus’ name, amen.