{"id":2499,"date":"2022-01-18T18:00:47","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T02:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/?p=2499"},"modified":"2022-01-14T14:29:52","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T22:29:52","slug":"20220119-psalm-132-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/blog\/20220119-psalm-132-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Ascending to Meet with God – Psalm 132-1"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

1 <\/sup><\/b>Remember, O LORD, in David’s favor,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 all the hardships he endured,\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n2 <\/sup><\/b>how he swore to the LORD<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n3 <\/sup><\/b>\u201cI will not enter my house<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 or get into my bed,\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n4 <\/sup><\/b>I will not give sleep to my eyes<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 or slumber to my eyelids,\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n5 <\/sup><\/b>until I find a place for the LORD,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n6 <\/sup><\/b>Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 we found it in the fields of Jaar.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n7 <\/sup><\/b>\u201cLet us go to his dwelling place;<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 let us worship at his footstool!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n8 <\/sup><\/b>Arise, O LORD, and go to your resting place,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 you and the ark of your might.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n9 <\/sup><\/b>Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and let your saints shout for joy.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n10 <\/sup><\/b>For the sake of your servant David,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 do not turn away the face of your anointed one.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

(Translated version, original article written in Chinese by Pastor Mickey Hsiao)<\/span><\/i>\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Theme] Welcome God\u2019s presence\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

This is the longest song of Ascents and it contains 18 verses. Verses 1-10 are the cry of the ascending pilgrims, and verses 11-18 speak of God’s response to the pilgrims.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the beginning of this psalm, there is a reference to David’s suffering, saying, \u201c<\/span>O LORD, in David\u2019s favor, all the hardships he endured<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u201d. It also mentions how David swore and pledged to God his wish to do whatever it takes until he found a dwelling place for God. It is worth noting that this time his suffering is not about the enemy’s pursuit or the result of his own sins, but about God\u2019s presence, that is, with God’s ark.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We know that the Ark of the Covenant had been misused by the Israelites as a talisman to help people win battles and had been carried into the battlefield. And yet, the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines. Thus, the Ark of the Covenant was taken captive by the Philistines and \u2018drifted\u2019 for a while (1 Samuel 4-6). In the end, David spent so much effort that he brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem, followed by the known incident of Uzzah (2 Samuel 6).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This passage demonstrates to us how desperately David wanted to find a secure dwelling place for The Ark of God, saying, \u201c<\/span>until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u201d, \u201c<\/span>Arise, O LORD, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might!<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u201d <\/span><\/span>This is the same as David’s later desire to build a temple for God.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What was David\u2019s intention to receive the Ark of the Covenant and build a temple for God?\u00a0 His plan was not to seek God\u2019s power to accomplish anything. In fact, he just wanted the whole country to be able to restore worship to God! He said, \u201c<\/span>Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u201d Let the people and priests return to normal life and have a close relationship with God!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Meditation]<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>time<\/span>s<\/span> of suffering and trouble, m<\/span>ost people are <\/span>eager <\/span>to cry out to God, which is the common sentiment o<\/span>f<\/span> human beings. Today, let’s <\/span>ask ourselves if <\/span>we have ever acted like David who is so anxious and <\/span>restless <\/span>because of<\/span><\/span> his <\/span>desperate desire to <\/span>seek <\/span>God’s presence and the eagerness to revive <\/span>people\u2019s <\/span>worship of God. <\/span>Once again, let us assess<\/span> our <\/span>own <\/span>relationship with God<\/span> and how much we need His <\/span>presence<\/span> with us<\/span>. God is <\/span>glad <\/span>to be <\/span>with us<\/span><\/span> if <\/span>we <\/span>are willing to <\/span>humble ourselves to <\/span>seek Him and let Him reign in our hearts!<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Prayer]<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Word of Jesus tells me, \u201c<\/span>Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u201d (Matthew 5:3) And \u201c<\/span>Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u201d (Matthew 5:8)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I will open my heart to receive Jesus and surrender to the sovereignty of Christ. And I will bow down on my knees to worship You!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[<\/b>Memory Verse<\/b>]\u202f<\/b>\u202f\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Psalm <\/span>132<\/span>:<\/span><\/span><\/span>8\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Arise<\/span>, O <\/span>L<\/span>ORD<\/span>, and go to your resting place,<\/span> you and the ark of <\/span>your<\/span> might.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 Remember, O LORD, in David’s favor,\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 all the hardships he endured,\u00a0\u00a0 2 how he swore to the LORD\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,\u00a0\u00a0 3…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ascending-to-meet-with-god","category-pastor-mickey-hsiao"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2501,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2499\/revisions\/2501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}