Psalms of Ascents

Our journey to the Holy Land can teach us how to live life as pilgrims.  Did you know that a whole section of the Psalms are songs for pilgrims to Jerusalem?  Psalms 120-134 are knows as the "Psalms of Ascents." Jerusalem is on a hill, so people had to climb to reach it (hence, the ascent).

The shiray hammaloth, or Songs of Ascents, is a resource to guide people in the Christian way and direct people of faith in the conscious and continuous effort that develops into maturity in Christ. The songs are numbered 120-134 in the book of Psalms. These fifteen songs were likely sung, possibly in order, by Hebrew pilgrims as they went up to Jerusalem to the great worship festivals.  Source

Taking time to read Psalms 120-134 is a great way to prepare for our own journey to the Holy Land.  Psalm 120 begins the songbook with feelings of restlessness and ultimately repentance.  All great journeys begin with realizing that you are dissatisfied with life as it is and are willing to change.

Psalm 120
A song of ascents.

1 I call on the LORD in my distress,
and he answers me.
2 Save me, LORD,
from lying lips
and from deceitful tongues.

3 What will he do to you,
and what more besides,
you deceitful tongue?
4 He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows,
with burning coals of the broom bush.

5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek,
that I live among the tents of Kedar!
6 Too long have I lived
among those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace;
but when I speak, they are for war.

A great resource for living life as a pilgrim is Eugene Peterson's  A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1980).  In it, Peterson recognizes the Psalms of Ascents as a "dog eared song book" for the journey.