Your study notes this week are authored by Will Buschmann, Director of Student Ministries.
Welcome to the final week of 2021! The next time we gather as a corporate body, 2022 will be upon us. This week we will be looking at Psalm 131. This Psalm is part of a larger collection of Psalms called the “Songs of Ascent” or the “Pilgrim Songs.” This collection of Psalms (Ps. 120-134) was used by God’s people as they traveled to Jerusalem for the three main annual Jewish festivals. Jerusalem is situated on a high hill. So, as the people began to ascend the uphill road to the city, these Psalms would have been sung. According to other traditions, the Jewish priests would sing these as they ascended the steps to the temple in Jerusalem. Either way, we want to ascend and rest in the presence of God this week through his Scripture.
Index to Days 2 through 5
Day 1
Unruly Ambition
Observe
King David opens this three verse Psalm in great humility. He says that even he has boundaries.
Psalm 131:1
I Have Calmed and Quieted My Soul
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
131 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
Proverbs 11:2
2 When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with the humble is wisdom.
Philippians 2:1-11
Christ’s Example of Humility
2 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Ambition is a good thing…to a certain extent. Where does the line from a holy ambition turn into an unruly ambition? Where do our work and our drive shift from serving the Lord with our gifts and talents to us becoming the lord ourselves? Our current cultural moment is a confusing time, in a world that says take what you want; build, accumulate, and horde. Where do you draw the line?
- What boundaries do you have around your own ambition? Where for you does a holy ambition to work hard become a selfish ambition?
- What is at the core of humility? Why is humility so attractive in a person?
Jesus, I feel like I’m living in strange times. One that isn’t all that new though, I know pride found its way into the Garden of Eden. Lord, show me where the line is where things become all about me and I lose sight of you. Give me a heart like David that says I have limits. That there are things and places that are not for me. Give me your Spirit that true humility, humility like what you showed us while here on this earth, will be the resounding character trait in my life. Amen
Day 2
Child-like Dependency
Observe
David gives us a formula for humility in this life.
Psalm 131:2
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
Matthew 18:1-4
Who Is the Greatest?
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 19:13-14
Let the Children Come to Me
13 Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, 14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 21:12-17
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?”
17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
David is pointing us to a theme throughout Scripture. That in this life a follower of Jesus is to have a child-like dependence on God the Father. The older we get the harder this seems. The more we achieve and grow the more we tend to rely on ourselves. Our successes go to our head and our failures go to our hearts.
- What does a child-like dependence on God look like?
- Where in your life are you trying to do it by yourself? Where today can you grow in dependence?
Lord, You use the weak to shame the strong. My world teaches me that I have to do it all myself. My world tells me that I am the captain of my own ship and that I’m in charge. Take this ethic away from my soul. I can’t do this life on my own, I need you like a child needs a mother. Teach me to depend on you today. Teach my heart that you can be trusted with the big and the small. You are faithful. Amen
Day 3
Hope
Observe
What does humility + child-like dependency create? Hope.
Psalm 131:3
3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.
Titus 3:4-7
4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Romans 8:24-25
24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Hope is difficult in many seasons. When you feel overwhelmed, anxious, and at the end of your rope who do you turn to? It’s easy to double-down on what we normally do. Trust in the earthly things we can see. As the people ascended and sang this out loud they would end this song with a command to each other and to the whole body to hope in the Lord from now into eternity. Sometimes that’s what our soul needs a command to place our hope in someone who never fails.
- Who or what do you turn to when things become too much for you?
- What does commanding your soul to hope in the Lord look like? What actions or things would that involve?
Lord, In a world that seems more hopeless every day. In a culture where hope is a luxury. Teach my heart to hope in you. No matter what I face, let me look back at your faithfulness throughout thousands of years and let me know that you have not forgotten me. Turn my heart to you today. Amen
Day 4
My Soul Waits For the Lord
Observe
Today we are going backward and looking at Psalm 130. A Psalm whose theme is all about waiting.
Psalm 130
My Soul Waits for the Lord
A Song of Ascents.
130 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
2 O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.
Waiting is no fun, but sadly is a fact of life. From waiting in line to waiting for test results we all find ourselves waiting. This Psalm is showing us that there is hope in waiting. Not some ethereal hope, but a hope that rests in the person of the Lord. A hope that is founded in the fact forgiveness, love, and redemption are all found in him. The Psalm gives us a formula for waiting:
- Cry out to God
- Tell him your sins and receive his forgiveness
- Turn to Scripture
- Wait expectantly, knowing that the morning will come
- Rest in hope, because love and redemption is found in him
- What would it look like to wait on the Lord as a watchman waits for morning in your life?
- What gives the Psalmist hope as he waits? How does Scripture come to us as we wait and fill our hearts with hope? Have you seen it in your own life?
Lord, Waiting stinks. You’ve never promised me that I won’t wait, but you have promised that I don’t wait without hope and that I won’t wait alone. Lord, let me turn to you in my waiting. Let your Scripture be the thing I cling to during the periods of waiting. Show yourself to me as I cry out. Amen
Day 5
Bless the Lord
Observe
We end this week with the final song of ascent that the people of God would have sung. This was their final reminder as they entered Jerusalem and it will be ours for PW this week.
Psalm 134
Come, Bless the Lord
A Song of Ascents.
134 Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
who stand by night in the house of the Lord!
2 Lift up your hands to the holy place
and bless the Lord!
3 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
he who made heaven and earth!
James 1:16-18
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
They reminded themselves that their mission is to bless the Lord as his servants. They also reminded themselves that every good gift comes from God, who has created and controls everything.
- What does it mean to bless the Lord? What does it look like to be his servant?
- Gratitude is powerful. What blessings has the Lord bestowed upon you? Make a list and thank him for all of it.
Lord, Make my heart one that desires to bless you. That servanthood is not a demotion, but it is a promotion if I am serving you, God. Lord, turn my heart to gratitude. Give me eyes to see all that you have blessed me with and make that fuel for my praise to you. Amen