Read Psalm 123.

We have turned our back on Meshech; we are confident of Help to see us to the end; we have a grand view of the goal. 

And so we begin; perhaps with small steps; we begin to walk away from the despair and deceit and destructive ways of Meshech.  But this means we must also, in some ways, walk away from the people of Meshech.  Here and there an activity will change, or we will drop a relationship.  And it will not be long before Meshech will notice.

If you have a holy discontent for this world and determine to walk away from it, what do you suppose those who are still in that world will think?  What will they say?  The contempt of the men of Meshech is the first problem for the pilgrim, and he experiences this before he even gets to the hills.

In v3, the word contempt is a term that assumes a superior position, and then looks down on others.  It is the opposite of reverence or regard.  In v4 scorn means to make fun of someone.

Illustrations of this contempt, of course, begin at the cross where mockers made fun of Jesus.  "If you are the Son of God come down from the cross.  He saved others but he cannot save Himself."  (See Ps. 22:6; Isa. 53:3; Mt. 27:42).  He taught His disciples that they must expect the same treatment (Jn 15:18-25).  Israel experienced contempt when they were rebuilding the walls.  Their neighbors called them "feeble Jews" and said that even "if a fox jumps on it, it will fall down" (Neh. 4:1-3).  For the Psalmist a recurring form of contempt was the question, "Where is your God?" when he was beset with trials (Ps. 42:3,10).  I once heard Christians referred to as those who base their lives on false pronouncements of ancient figmental deities.

This contempt or scorn must be expected.  The pilgrim must remember that no matter how congenial he may be with the people of Meshech, the fact is that when he determined to make his journey to God he turned his back on people with certain values and judgments.  He was saying he found life in Meshech to be unsatisfying and sought something better.  And when this happens to people who are proud (v4) they do not take it well.  They will feel they are being judged and will fight back.  Remember that pride is a way of life in Meshech.  You have lived there; you used to have the same attitude.

Do not be surprised by the contempt.  Instead, lift your eyes to the Lord for His mercy (v1-2).

Read Psalm 122.

Where are we headed on our pilgrimage?  We are not going to Jerusalem or any other earthly city.  Rather, the Christian is on a journey to the temple of heaven, as well as on a day-by-day journey into a closer fellowship with the God Who lives in him.

God's people today need to have a longing for heaven.  It ought not be feared or neglected.  Note the following:

w 1 Cor 1:7: we long for the Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.

w Phil. 3:20-21: we long for our Savior from heaven.

w 2 Tim. 4:8: we love the appearing of Christ.  (Contrast this with v10, having loved this present world.)

w Titus 2:13: we look for the blessed hope.

This longing for the coming of Christ and our going to be with Him is not escapism.  In fact, it enables the pilgrim to function with hope and a positive mental attitude during his earthly days.  So we are encouraged to read and study, from time to time, those parts of Scripture (e.g. Rev. 21-22) that give us a glimpse of that place.

But what of the pilgrimage whereby we grow in the knowledge of our Creator now?  As David was spurred on by a vision of Jerusalem, so we can be encouraged by a vision of what a deeper relationship with God is like.

This is the point of setting your attention on Jesus. When you see Him you see one who was in perfect fellowship with His Father (Hb. 12:2-3; 1 Jn. 1:1-4; 2 Co. 3:17; 4:6,11).  Join Him in the desert of fasting and temptation.  Pray with Him all night.  Agonize with Him in the Garden.  Hear Him from the cross.

Then look at others in the Bible who grew in their knowledge of God.  Go with Abraham to Mt. Moriah to sacrifice his only son.  Observe Jacob wrestling all night with the angel of the Lord.  Sit with Job in the ashes of tremendous suffering.  Join David in confessing horrible sin.  Then, with Isaiah see God high and lifted up.

Also, cultivate this longing in the annals of Church history.  Many fellow-pilgrims have recorded their journeys and can help us.  Read the Confessions of Augustine, a'Kempis' Imitation of Christ, Fox's Book of Martyrs, Pilgrim's Progress, The Journal of John Wesley, The Life of Robert Murray M'Cheyne, Brother Lawrence's Practice of the Presence of God, Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret, or the writings of A.W. Tozer or Oswald Chambers.  The joys of these who came to desire nothing on earth but God will give you a wonderful vision of where you're headed.

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.

Read Psalm 121.

Matt. 7:13-14  “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The one who seeks to journey to God is on a narrow, winding, difficult road.  There is no other way.  But there is a confidence that he will have all the help he needs from the Lord Who made heaven and earth.  And the traveler will call on Him often (Ps. 124:8; 134:3).  When he does, how will the pilgrim be helped?

* God watches over the pilgrim, v3-4.  The idea of slipping refers to a time of great insecurity or calamity.  The fact that God will neither slumber nor sleep solves a critical issue since, while in the mountains, the traveler will need sleep.  His Help will not be caught off guard.

* God protects the pilgrim, v5-6.  He is our shade.  In this picture the sun is the enemy and it will sap our strength, burn us, cause us to overheat.  But note what the term shade means.  It means first that God is walking with us, and second, that His shadow will be cast over the pilgrim.

* God guards the pilgrim, v7-8.  Here the concern is harm of any sort that might come.  God will guard us, not by always keeping us from difficulty, but by limiting the difficulty and giving us an escape (1 Cor 10:13).  Remember Stephen in Acts 7 who died joyfully at the hands of evil men. He showed the evidence of one protected by God; his body was killed but his soul rejoiced as he entered heaven.

The pilgrimage will lead through one difficulty and then another.  It must be!  But rejoice in the Help who is the Maker of Heaven and Earth.  You will never be out of his sight.  He can and will keep you.

Jude 24: Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.

Psalm 119:81-88

In this stanza it seems that the Psalmist pours out his heart to God concerning the length and depth of his affliction.  We hear his “how long” prayer, the prayer of the saints when they feel as if they would buckle under the seemingly endless difficulty.

His soul faints (v81) and his eyes fail as he constantly searches God’s word for comfort (v82).  He has become like a “wineskin in smoke” (v83), shriveled up and useless.  He wonders, “How long” before God will deliver him (v84),

Not only the length of his affliction; the weight of the burden is also having it’s way.  His enemies are going against God’s law (v85) as they wrongfully treat him (v86).  “They almost made an end of me on earth” (v87).

And so he prays again to be revived by God’s grace, his concern being that if God does not intervene he may be tempted to disobedience (v88).

Let us note a couple of important thoughts from this section of Psalm 119.  First, the saint does pour out his complaint to God.  We need to be assured of the fact that God does want to hear what is on our hearts.  He is the one who has bid us come and cast our cares on Him (1 Pt. 5:6-7).  He is the one Who tells us to pray about everything (Phil. 4:6-7).  He commands us to come to His throne in our time of need that we might receive what we need from His grace (Heb. 4:16).  He does not reproach us when we ask for wisdom (Jas. 1:8).  He treats us like the perfect and holy Father He is (Matt. 7:7-12).

Come to Him when you hurt.  This glorifies Him!

But also note that in the pouring out of his complaint the saint does not question the word of God.  He continues to “hope” in it (v81); he does not forget it (v83) nor forsake it (v87); he trusts in it (v86). 

We may need to ask God for the ability to understand His word or for insight into how it is to be applied.  But if we question it’s veracity we only open the door to leave behind the only sure counsel, direction and basis for hope that is available to mankind.

  Bring your burdens to Him today.  Do not be shy about proclaiming your weakness to Him.  But at the same time affirm your absolute trust in His word which is able to build you up (Acts 20:32).

Read Psalm 121.

This Psalm is oft referred to as The Travelers Psalm as it promises God's care and protection for one on a journey in dangerous and difficult territory.  When kept in its context as a Pilgrim Song its significance deepens significantly.

When one turns from Meshech (or any city in Israel) to head for Jerusalem he is faced with the realization that Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains.  He will have to traverse them to get to the sanctuary.  Hills represented difficulty.  There were ups and downs, some very steep.  There were dangerous wild animals.  Hills were often the place where thieves did their work.

In the Psalms ahead of us the pilgrim will face ...

w Ridicule (Ps. 123)

w Satan's traps (124)

w A long and tiring trip (126)

w Family threats (127)

w Lifelong hang-ups (129)

w Past failures (130)

w Selfish pride (131)

He will discover that as Jesus said, the road is narrow and difficult (Matt. 7:13-14).  Two thoughts must be reconciled.

A. You cannot draw near God because of the problems.

These kinds of problems are sufficient to take you off the pathway to God.  The broad path to destruction is filled with those who one time thought they might take the narrow road, only to find it too difficult.  They could not stand being laughed at or being considered dead by their families.  They could not get past traumatic events in their childhood or the guilt of yesterday's sins.  This journey to God is not easy and the hills will be too hard.

B. You cannot draw near God without the problems.

This may seem a paradox but it is true.  The very hills that will stop your journey are the life-situations through which you will grow in the knowledge of God.  They will motivate you to want to know God, for when we are at ease we generally turn away from God.  The hills give God the opportunity to make Himself known.  In our weakness we experience His strength.

Thus, at the outset of his journey, the pilgrim settles the issue.  The journey will be hard, but his Help will be the one who made the hills, the Maker of heaven and earth.  He believes that the God who wants to be known will keep him on the journey.  And indeed He will!

Read Psalm 120.

We cannot be at home in Meshech and love God at the same time.  The pilgrimage to God begins with a holy discontent towards Meshech.

But many people live as if they think it possible to be comfortable in the world, in Meshech, and committed to God at the same time.

Can we agree that the Bible says that loving Meshech while you love God is not an option?

Mt. 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

James 4:4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Remember back in Psalm 73 the conclusion that the writer came to: earth has nothing I desire besides you (73:25-28).  And why this discontent?  Because Meshech and God are at odds.  This is not the world God created and pronounced good.  It is God's good world taken over in rebellion, taken over by its sinful selfish citizens.

This is the whole point of pilgrimage.  A pilgrim is one who realizes he is on a journey.  Any town he enters along the way cannot be his end because it is only along the way.  He must live as a stranger or alien (1 Peter 1:17; 2:11).

You may not like this but you cannot deny the truth of the simple fact that you cannot proceed to any destination unless you turn your back on your current location.

Listen to John Bunyon, the author of Pilgrim's Progress:

Remember, if the grace of God has taken hold of your soul, you belong to another world now.  You are actually a subject of another, more noble kingdom, the kingdom of God -- the kingdom of the gospel, of grace, of faith, righteousness, and the kingdom of the world to come.  You should work to live in this kingdom, rather than dragging the heavenly things God has given you through this world's dirt.  Instead, beat down your body's selfish urges, destroy your self-centered point of view, boost your mind up to the things that are above, and put into practice before everyone the blessed word of life.

We cannot love and hate Meshech at the same time any more than we can set out on a journey and stay home at the same time.