DAY 97 - SONG OF ASCENT
MILANNA MARTILLARO, YA CREATIVE & PRODUCTION TEAM LEAD
“Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord! May the Lord bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth! - Psalm 134
Recently, I have taken up running. Like many others during this season of gyms being closed and routines being changed, I dusted off my running shoes and channeled my inner high school track training and set out to become a runner again. And while I have really enjoyed my new exercise routine, there is one thing that still hasn’t changed about my running habits…
I. Hate. Hills.
Nothing is worse to me than being on a run and finally finding your rhythm and your stride, feeling like you’re vibing with your music, feeling excited and confident in your excursion and then coming up upon a giant incline that makes you feel 1000x slower and more out of shape than ever. So now, I typically run around lakes that have pretty much zero incline.
Essentially, I gave up running hills because they were hard. My attitude towards running became so much more negative when I had to journey up a hill. Until I stumbled across a group of Psalms in the bible that changed my perspective.
Within the book Psalms there are a group of fifteen Psalms (120-134) that are considered the “Songs of Ascent”. Old theologians attribute this name to this group of songs saying that the Israelites would sing them on their journey to Jerusalem. You see, the promise land was located in the midst of many mountains. And was only accessible by traveling up these hills. So just as they were approaching the “land flowing with milk and honey”, just when they were so close, and it was in their sights, they had to trek up a mountain to get there. But according to the songs of ascent, as the Israelites were climbing these mountains they would sing praises to God as they made their final ascent into the promise land.
Amazing.
Also convicting. I couldn’t help but think how different my song is during times of struggle. When I am climbing the mountain (or running hills) how my song, my cry to the Lord often times looks so much different, that when I am cruising on the mountain top. Usually it sounds like;
“God, please help me.”
“Lord, I need you.”
“Jesus, deliver me from this.”
Thinking about how the Israelites would sing praises to God in the middle of their ascent, the most difficult part of their journey, because they knew God’s promise was on the other side of it, gave me a beautiful conviction. That both in times of hardship, and victory I want my song to God to remain the same. That even in seasons where things aren’t going my way, and I feel like I am running up a never ending hill, my song of praise will ring in the throne room of heaven just the same.