Jesus, the Ultimate Pilgrim
Psalm 84
Here at Uptown, it's been uncanny how God has been moving in the lives of our community over the past few months during the pandemic. Not only has God been expressing his faithfulness toward us, but recently, there have been many of us experiencing surprising and unexpected breakthroughs and answered prayers. Praise God!
However, regardless of what season we are going through, Psalm 84 reminds us to place our hope in God, specifically in his presence among fellow brothers and sisters (vv. 9-12). The context of Psalm 84 is the pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem that the people of God undertook. The Temple symbolized God's intense and intimate presence.
The psalmist proclaims that our true joy (vv. 1-4) and our true strength (vv. 5-8) comes when we are in the Temple of God--in God's presence and in the presence of his people. This is therefore a timely reminder for many of us. During this pandemic, we might be overlooking the need to be in God's presence with fellow brothers and sisters. More specifically, through victories and answered prayers, we might forget that our true joy and strength comes from the presence of God and his people.
In fact, if we are honest with ourselves, none of us values the presence of God and his people as we ought. We often find our joy and strength in other things—whether it's our superiors at work or school, or significant relationships, or financial success. We often get complacent and underestimate the privilege of being able to access the presence of God and his people.
As a response to our ungrateful attitude, God actually came to us. Instead of demanding us to make a pilgrimage to him, which he could rightfully do, he instead humbled himself and came to us (John 1.14). In all other religions, sinful people make pilgrimages to some holy site; in the gospel, our holy God takes a pilgrimage to us. Thus, Jesus is the ultimate pilgrim. He is the true temple, the embodiment of God's intense glory and love (Heb 1.3). And yet, he forsook all of his glory (Phil 2.1-11) in order to take a pilgrimage toward sinful people like us so that we can be saved.
To respond to this gospel, let us place our joy and strength in the presence of God and his people, which is now located in the church! Sisters and brothers, no matter where you are in life, place your trust in God!
