Psalm of Ascent: Friday

I hope this week of meditation and reflection has been restful for you. Next week, we'll switch back to our normal devotional style, but the reading practices we've done this week are part of a long tradition in the church of reflective and meditative reading.

As we read our final Psalm of Ascent this morning (read it slowly, a couple times), I would encourage you to think about the ways in which this Psalm may or may not reflect how you feel today. Sometimes the promises we see in scripture can feel almost teasing - promises of peace and righteousness and justice. But scripture tells us again and again that, while that feeling is common throughout the history of our faith, the promises are still true and are / will be fulfilled. How might this psalm reflect that tension in your own life and soul today?

Psalm 125

A song of ascents.

1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
    which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
    so the Lord surrounds his people
    both now and forevermore.

3 The scepter of the wicked will not remain
    over the land allotted to the righteous,
for then the righteous might use
    their hands to do evil.

4 Lord, do good to those who are good,
    to those who are upright in heart.
5 But those who turn to crooked ways
    the Lord will banish with the evildoers.

Peace be on Israel.