Ascending (part 2)

June 19, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Every year, Jews from around the world made four pilgrimages up to Jerusalem for various feasts and sacrifices. These journeys reminded them of God’s goodness as they went to the Temple to worship, and they helped refocus on God’s ways as they returned to their regular routines.

Jerusalem is over 2500 feet above sea level, so the pilgrimage there was a physical workout as well as a spiritual workout. These workouts were beneficial for God’s people, preparing them to minister in their cities in the following months.

The Book of Psalms contains 15 songs that these pilgrims would sing to and with each other as they traveled up to Jerusalem. These Psalms of Ascent are still instructive for Christians today.

As we resume this series this summer, I hope you can join me for this look at the life-changing truths these pilgrimage songs can still teach today to all of God’s people. We would love to have you join us in person, but if you are unable to do so you can watch the videos of these messages on my YouTube channel.

You can check out the messages we shared last summer from Psalms 120-127 here. And the current series of messages include:

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God’s Bright Logic

June 19, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

“…the Jews there tried to stone You, and yet You are going back?” (John 11:8). 

The disciples were sitting around Jesus contemplating the next steps when they heard the news that Jesus’ friend Lazarus was sick and on death’s doorstep. 

This statement seems to be a very logical thought. At least it is logical from a human perspective. But God sees wider, farther, and deeper than we ever will, so His logic is both perfect and limitless. 

Yes, the Jews had tried to stone Jesus (8:59; 10:31, 39), and for mere men operating and thinking as men, staying away from danger is a logical conclusion. 

(Read of the biblical passages mentioned in this post here.) 

But Jesus was on-mission from His Father (5:19). He had to go to Bethany because the sickness of Lazarus “will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (11:4). Later, at the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus prayed, “This is for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent Me” (v. 42). When the dead Lazarus was returned to life and came out of the grave, God indeed was glorified! 

Jesus declares that when we walk with Him, we always walk in the light (v. 9). This is because He IS the light of the world (8:12; 9:5). And as we walk with Him, we too bear the light wherever He calls us to walk (Matthew 5:14). 

To walk in our own logic is to stumble in the darkness (John 11:10). We calculate and plan from a place of scarcity and fear. As a result, we stumble right past—or we sit still out of fear—and miss the opportunities for God’s glory to be displayed. 

My logic always has a dark edge that I cannot see past. But the logic of God has no dark places because He can see from beginning to end perfectly. 

I must daily walk in His light, even into those places where my limited logic would tell me to avoid. It is there that I will be able to witness God’s glory that I wouldn’t have seen had I sat still in my “safe” place. 

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