This tiny psalm packs quite a punch. Serving as a benediction for pilgrims who've journeyed through the collection of Psalms of Ascent, Psalm 134 packs references and allusions to just less than half of the others in the collection (see psalms 121, 122, 124, 128, 132, & 133). As such, it concludes the collection by pronouncing a call to worship and a blessing upon the pilgrims as they return to their daily lives.

The life of God’s people is always situated within community. Wholeness of life is experienced both in relationship to God, and to one another. Entering Holy Week, Jesus reminds us that His crucifixion and resurrection were to be remembered, expressed, and experienced within His newly created community.

The Old Testament scriptures aid modern-day faith by offering glimpses of how faith and hope work in practice. These mysterious non-tangible expressions of our soul are always rooted in something concrete. As practitioners of faith and hope, this concreteness tethers our spiritual yearnings to the present.

The life of peace is one in faithful relationship to Yahweh and His community. In an ideal world, tranquility springs forth when we root ourselves in both.

Psalm 130 offers us a beautiful picture of faith in the midst of a crisis. The beauty of the psalm is both in its universal appeal and its depiction of a gracious and present God who delivers.

The psalms don't lie. Their beauty and their ability to be immediately utilized by contemporary readers lies in their brutal honesty about the way life is. There's something about this vulnerability in the presence of God that is deeply spiritual. For all the good we can thank God for, you and I live with the reality that our world is not as it should be.

We spend our lives in pursuit. We pursue pleasure, security, satisfaction, and many other things we believe align with our vision of the good life. But the Psalms of Ascent show us, and Jesus persistently tells us, that the good life is rooted in our proximity to the source of all that is good, God's self. Psalm 128.