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.

The wisdom of Psalm 127 rests in the grace of God: the reality that God gives good gifts regardless of our effort. While the spiritual parallels are apparent, the psalm also asks us to consider directs the everyday provisions we may take for granted. The psalm also assures us that the underlying reality behind any fruitful effort is the divine provision of God.

There are many parallels to our spiritual journeys and the journey of Israel. For much of Israel's history, they placed their hope in Yahweh's future intervention, looking to the past acts of faithfulness as the bedrock of their surety.

Like most of the Psalms of Ascent, Psalm 125 appeals to Jerusalem's special symbolic status as the center of God's dealings in the earth (for more on this, see Psalm 123). The psalm heavily leans on the concrete imagery of Jerusalem to reveal the invisible reality of God's people.

Life is dangerous, vicious, and too often unkind. But the Creator of all things is for us. The Divine One is on our side, working on our behalf. While Jesus never guarantees our safety, He does guarantee our life. Jesus assures us that our trust anchors itself to a God of fidelity who lovingly works towards our good.

The Psalms are often daring. They express a multitude of emotions, but one of which is utter desperation before God. The Psalms of Ascent are no different. Even among Israel's ceremonious songs, we find the naked, vulnerable, bold, desperate faith God loves to see in us.

The story of Israel’s liberation into divine relationship is our story in so many ways. As we enter Holy Week we are left with the reminder that divine deliverance is and was always about restoration into divine relationship. The emancipating God liberates us from the empire of the present evil age and into divine communion.

It can seem like faith would be easier if we could only see—miracles, God, whatever, just anything more than what we see now. But this is never the case. We, like Israel, are a forgetful bunch. The divine splendors of yesterday fade quickly, and our fidelity wanes. Emancipation was not won by us, neither will our inheritance be. Faith in Yahweh begins and ends with the knowledge that it is God who carries us, always.