Read Psalm 122.

We have found that before the pilgrim can truly begin his journey to God he must first recognize a holy dissatisfaction with his present situation.  Then, because that journey takes him on a narrow, difficult road, he must have the assurance that Someone will help him along the way.  This Psalm grants one other obvious need to be filled that the trip might have success.  The pilgrim must have a satisfying vision of where he is going.

As a child I often sang the first verse of this Psalm as a call to worship in a church service.  The idea was that being in the church building meant we were in the "house of the Lord".  For the Psalmist, an Israelite, he was in fact headed for a building, the temple in Jerusalem.  But even this Psalm makes it clear that it is the presence of the "Testimony" that gives Jerusalem it's significance.  The journey is not simply to a city or building but to the very place where God promised to dwell with Israel.

Look at how the Psalmist thinks.  In v1 friends have come to ask him to accompany them on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  This was common.  As in the days of Jesus (Lk. 2:41-45) groups of people would travel together to Jerusalem for a feast.  With every joining together of roads the crowd would grow larger and larger. 

(King David, who wrote this Psalm, may have been thinking of times in his youth when he lived in Bethlehem, although it fits best with his time as King when he actually lived in Jerusalem.  The house of the Lord was the tabernacle of testimony. He also might have written the Psalm anticipating a time future, after his son Solomon had completed the temple project.)

So they ask the Psalmist to join them.  His emotional response is that he is glad.  And why is he glad?  Because he has such a wonderful vision of the splendor and serenity of Jerusalem.  In his mind he seems to be standing within the gates of Jerusalem (v2). He reviews it's beauty, it's glory as the gathering place of the tribes of Israel for the giving of praise to God, and it's greatness as the seat of government.

One cannot underestimate the value of a vision of the destination before one sets out on a difficult journey.  I have often been encouraged on long trips or hikes by pictures I have seen of my destination.  The pictures are not themselves satisfying, but they present a compelling goal that will see us into and through the inevitable struggles.

Do you long to know God as David longed to be in Jerusalem?  Think about where you're headed and you too will be glad.