Psalm 132

Upon my first read of this psalm, I felt a bit “haughty,” meaning that I was kind of annoyed at the presumption of Israel to expect God’s continued blessing just because of what He promised David.  Then I realized it is because I was reading it through my own presumptions.  A side note on reading scripture from my own experience: beware of reading it through the filter of your own attitude!  As much as I am intrigued by the notion of generational curses in the spiritual realm and how to break them, it’s easy to forget there is a flip side to them: generational blessings.  The Lord speaks of both and here is a psalm written about one such blessing.  Once I got past my own humanity and prayed for the Spirit to show me the spiritual implications of this psalm (and read some commentary on it), I was able to see the deeper meaning.

Firstly, as we have been learning about the Psalms of Ascents, these were sung and repeated during pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  They were created as reminders. Verses 1-9 are just that, a reminder of David’s zeal and faithfulness to the Lord.  Oh, that we would have such zeal for God!  Now, in that time, God’s presence rested upon the Ark of the Covenant.  Psalm 132 begins by recounting David’s desire for the Ark to return to Israel into its rightful place in the temple so that God would dwell among them.  He was zealous for God to be in their lives.  Today, the temple is our body and the resting place is our hearts.  The Holy of Holies, if you will, is the throne within our soul.  Do we desire for God to be with us in this way?  Do we yearn for His presence in our lives?  It brings us great benefit to have God in our lives, but is this why we yearn for Him?  I recognize this is quite an existential question and the answer isn’t meant to be a shallow yes or no, but rather an evaluation of where we stand in our relationship with God.  I believe this is the point of Psalm 132.

Verses 10-12 is a plea for forgiveness.  God cannot cohabitate in an area of sinfulness.  So, when we find ourselves at a place of pleading for God to be with us, that we would feel His presence in our lives, it is because we have turned away.  Here, Israel is pleading for mercy and grace, that the Lord, despite their own iniquities, would remain with them.  In verse 12, they repeat the Lord’s condition for remaining with them: keep His covenant and testimony.  This brings up a crucial point in our spiritual lives.  Where is there sin?  Where must I invite God into for healing and restoration?  The great thing is, we don’t have to do it on our own.  In fact, we cannot!

Verse 17 mentions a term that is generally lost on us.  The metaphor of “the horn of David” doesn’t make sense to us because it isn’t a term we use in our daily language.  It is a reference to the Messiah!  We see this reference a bit more clearly in the prophecy of Ezekiel, particularly chapter 29, verse 21:

“On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

A horn represented a symbol of power.  We also see it later in Revelation, where the prophecy refers to the horns on the beast’s head, referring to its control of world powers in the end times.  In this psalm, however, the reference is to the Lord’s anointed: Jesus.

So, what does this all mean for us today in the 21^st century?  As we look back at Israel’s longing for God’s reign in their land, we can compare this to our current situation of God’s reign in our hearts.  Do we have the same zeal David had?  Spiritually, we stand on the shoulders of giants.  People who, before us, sought out the Lord with all their might.  They recognized their failures, but still desired God in their lives.  God promised to live among us and He does.  However, does He live with us.  Have we opened our hearts for Him to reside there, in His rightful place?  Do we recognize and admit the times we have gone wrong, turned away, not upheld our side of the covenant?  It might be time to do some house cleaning in our hearts.