PSALMS OF ASCENT!

PSALM 122:1

Hunger
I REJOICED WITH THOSE WHO SAID TO ME, LET US GO TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD. (PSALMS 122:1 NIV)
HUNGER
Is hunger good or bad? I think it depends. Years ago I was in Italy. A train ride from north to south Italy took me to Pompeii - a place I had wanted to visit for years. While there I ran out of money and did not eat for two days until I got back to my friends in northern Italy. That was bad hunger! However, we all want to be hungry before a special meal. Sitting down to Christmas dinner when not hungry takes all the joy out of the experience. But feeling the anticipatory hunger before a feast adds to the enjoyment of the occasion. shallow substitutes for something that still eludes us. Everyone is hungry, and everyone is eating, but not everyone is feeding on the right thing, or the right person that can bring real satisfaction.

PERSONAL PREPARATION
Do you want to have a satisfying worship experience every morning in your quiet time? Would you like to feed healthily every Sunday at church? Psalm 122 reveals that such joy is possible, that our hunger can be properly and fully satised. We are able to be in a state of excited anticipation when called to worship. What will this take? Well, as we can see in Psalm 122, this is the song of a p e r s o n w h o h a s w o rk e d through their issues preventing wholehearted worship, and who has now decided to go to church and worship God of their own free will. This is someone who has chosen to worship. Real worship is always voluntary. Take time every day - and especially on a Sunday morning - to pray through any areas of repentance and trust. If we do so we will nd our hunger intensied, and, as we worship, we will discover it satised.

PROGRESSION
The Psalmist is rejoicing because he has been called to satisfy his hunger in the only way he knows to be truly signicant. But how has he come to this realisation? The Psalms of Ascent are set out in groups of three. This set of three are a progression through issues. They have taken the Psalmist through repentance (Psalm 120) to trust (Psalm 121). Having worked through these issues he is now prepared for worship (Psalm 122). He is ready to satisfy his hunger with God - together with the people of God. Coming to worship without repenting and trusting God is going to be a shallow and lessthan-nutritious feeding experience.

SATISFACTION?
All human beings are hungry for something, but, as the Stones sang, we cant get no satisfaction. None of the usual meals satisfy. Work, children, hobbies, money, t r ave l , m a r r i a g e, s t a t u s, inuence and power are all temporary achievements and, in our soul, we know are

Malcolm Cox, email: malcolm.cox@iccmissions.org | ICC Missions on facebook | www.nwlcc.org