Psalm 134 is the final psalm in a group of fifteen psalms known as the ‘Songs of Ascent’, so called because in Ancient Israel, they were recited as worshippers headed to the temple of Jerusalem for the pilgrim festivals. Picturing this, you can hear a great chorus singing psalms that eventually build up to its crescendo – a short, powerful Psalm, declaring in its finality, ‘The Lord who made heaven and earth, may He bless you out of Zion.’
The most prominent word in this Psalm is BLESS. Bless the Lord, and may you be blessed. What is it to bless the Lord? Simply, it is to say good things about and to Him. The Greek word in this Psalm for bless is barach, which means to salute, to congratulate, to thank, to praise, to kneel down. As believers, we are called to thank God, to praise Him, to kneel down before the Blessed One. In Jewish worship, God is frequently called ha-Qodesh baruch hu, or literally ‘the Holy One, blessed is He!’ This is God our Father, the Holy one whom we are implored to bless, all the time.
I say all the time, because in the first verse, the worshippers are called to bless God even in the night watches. If you again envisage the worshippers reciting the Song of Ascent, you can picture a whole day of singing and worshipping. The people leave the temple as the sun is beginning to set. The temple guards are preparing to take up the night watch over the ark. The worshippers sing of these night guards, that they would be implored to bless God continually through the night.
For us today, we can read the night to mean that we should bless God without ceasing. It may also mean however, that when we go though seasons of night, those that feel as if there is no light and all around you is darkness, we are still called to bless the Lord. In this place of blessing Him, we will find His blessing. It may also mean, that you, as the guards were, are called to bless the Lord continually in the night watches. Whilst those around you are sleeping and slumbering, you may be the one who needs to stand up and outwardly bless and praise the Lord, as an act of worship and prayer.
The Psalm then tells us to lift up our hands toward God. This act of lifting our hands is an outward posture of surrender. Physically lifting our hands in praise toward God is easy when we are by ourselves, but around others it can be confronting. Choosing to adopt a posture of surrender during corporate praise, is standing before God and deciding that no matter who can see me, I want it to be known that I TRUST God, that I place myself in His hands, and I believe He is there for me. Lifting our hands toward God is an outward action of an inward attitude. The first book of Timothy encourages us to pray everywhere and to lift our holy hands to the Lord. We should practice lifting our hands to remind us that God cares for, loves, protects and blesses us. He’s got our back.
Finally, the third verse exclaims, ‘May the Lord of heaven and earth, bless you out of Zion!’ The Lord, our God, our Jesus, He is above ALL things. There is no one greater or more powerful than our Heavenly Father. He is able and will bless us out of his riches in glory. Whilst this may not come in the package we were hoping for, God’s blessing is really found in His presence, in His sweetness. Blessing God brings us into the place that we can experience Him, His divine touch and loving hand, and it is this blessing that is worth far above any earthly blessing we can imagine. To know Jesus is to have life, true life. He is the blesser and giver of life.
On that note people, ‘Bless the Lord in all of these places, in all of these times, and in turn may you know His blessing, and taste His goodness. Bless the Lord!’