A Song of Ascent

Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord—now and always.

-Psalm 131:1-3

I looked it up, this Psalm is part of a series of Psalms that were sung as worshippers were ascending upward to Jerusalem. Just imagine the beauty of this song being sung as you slowly ascended the mountain to the house of God at Zion. That is why the Psalm is given the subtitle, “Song of Ascent.” I share that because the lyrics of this song are more and more hopeful as one progresses through the song. This passage goes from a pitiable condition in verse one. Then it moves on to why the speaker needs to cling to God. And finally, hope that God will deliver. All of us are on a climb ascending toward something. However it feels that every step upwards actually leaves us more despondent and tired. In fact, it may even feel as if the climb upward is a slow burn going in the opposite direction, that’s how hard it feels. The hopelessness of a never ending trek to a mountain hidden in the clouds seems almost pointless because you’ve been traveling so long that you forgot why you were trying to go there. Whatever work you put into ascending, you have nothing to show up a quiet humility, if you could call it that. Rather, I suspect that you are broken. In that brokenness you keep your head down afraid to do more than you are out of fear of losing a grip on whatever it is that you are clutching. There’s a thought: you made it this far. You’ve been grown. You have persevered. Maybe, just slightly, you realize now that the hard climb up was so that you could grow into adulthood so that you would realize the greatness that will come. Now what? You’re not there yet and the journey is still upward… yes, you hope that God is walking with you on the tough climb of life. Sing a song of ascent.