Psalms 120-122, 1 Corinthians 9 • Key Verse: Psalm 122:1

Have you ever received an invitation that you didn’t want? Perhaps you had planned to play golf that afternoon but instead were sitting in a pew waiting for the wedding to begin. Have you ever not received an invitation that you wanted? Undoubtedly! Someone tells you he has an extra ticket to the big game, you have the day free, and you want to go badly. Then he heads off, saying, “I need to find someone to go with me.” You are in agony.

Then there is the time you get an invitation you want. It does happen, occasionally. Think about your reaction when that happens. “Sounds great! I’d love to go.”

Three scenarios: invited but didn’t want to go, wanted to go but not invited, wanted to go and invited. Three responses: dread going, disappointed not going, and ecstatic about going.
Which of those three responses would match yours if you received this invitation: “Let us go to the house of the Lord”? Since it is an invitation, one response is eliminated, that of disappointed not going. So, two answers are left, and only one of them is right.

Can you honestly say that you would be ecstatic? Or would your real response be closer to dread? This is pretty convicting, isn’t it? It makes us consider our attitude toward worship.

Psalm 122 is one of the pilgrimage psalms, sung as the people traveled to Jerusalem for one of the annual feasts. This one expresses deep joy at the thought of being called to travel to the house of the Lord. That invitation should always bring rejoicing.

Do you share the psalmist David’s heart for worship? Ask God to help you come to worship with rejoicing.

Woodrow Kroll & Tony Beckett
www.backtothebible.in