A Beginning And A Progress

Psalm 132:1-9

A song for the ascent to Jerusalem.

1LORD, remember David

and all that he suffered.

2He took an oath before the LORD.

He vowed to the Mighty One of Israel,

3“I will not go home;

I will not let myself rest.

4I will not let my eyes sleep

nor close my eyelids in slumber

5until I find a place to build a house for the LORD,

a sanctuary for the Mighty One of Israel.”

6We heard that the Ark was in Ephrathah;

then we found it in the distant countryside of Jaar.

7Let us go to the dwelling place of the LORD;

let us bow low before him.

8Arise, O LORD, and enter your sanctuary,

along with the Ark, the symbol of your power.

9Your priests will be agents of salvation;

may your loyal servants sing for joy.

Our life,” said Martin Luther, “is a beginning and a progress, not a consummation.”

Paul recognized this as well when he said, “My job was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God, not we, who made it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

On the job, in the church, or in the home, we may not always see our plans come to completion. A missionary may spend her life translating, preaching, and teaching but see only a handful respond to the gospel. A businessman may labor a lifetime and then find his dreams ruined by an embezzling partner. A wife, after thirty years of marriage, may find that her husband no longer loves her.

This psalm speaks of David’s vision to build a Temple for the Lord. But David never witnessed the fulfillment of his dream, and his family was a disaster. Does this make David a failure? Didn’t the Lord still call him a “man after his own heart”?

God wants you to have dreams and goals and ambitions, but don’t analyze your progress at every bend in the road. How God measures you and how you measure yourself may be two different things.

Lord Jesus Christ, the work is thine,

Not ours, but thine alone;

And prospered by thy power divine

Can ne’er be overthrown.

GERMAN HYMN, TRANSLATED BY FRANK HOUGHTON

Bible Networking

The mention of Ephrathah and Jaar in verse 6 refers to the reclaiming of the Ark of God in Kiriath-jearim. See 1 Samuel 7:1-2. The rival Philistines had captured this holy box in battle, yet it brought them nothing but misfortune, so they returned it.

Notable Quotable

“He remembers us individually. . . . He remembers our afflictions, troubles, humblings. . . . He remembers what we purpose in our hearts for His glory. The Lord who is asked to remember is the mighty God.”

W. GRAHAM SCROGGIE