May You Bless the Lord, and May He Bless You

Psalm 134:   by Trish Reimer

Observe:
This is the last of the series of fifteen psalms with the title A Song of Ascents. It is the shortest of these psalms and the second shortest chapter in the Bible (Psalm 117 being the shortest).  If we were to sum this psalm up in two thoughts it would be: “May you bless the Lord and may the Lord bless you!”

 Interpretation and Application:
The Lord blesses us by reaching down to take care of us and our needs, but how do we bless the Lord?  He can’t receive anything from us that He needs or He doesn’t already have.  A translation of the word bless in this case would be to adore, praise, or give heartfelt thanks to the Lord. It is thought that the servants mentioned in this psalm were the Levites, the temple priest and the captain of the guard whose duty it was to keep watch from sunset to sunrise in the temple. (I Chronicles 9:33 Those who were musicians, heads of Levite families, stayed in the rooms of the temple and were exempt from other duties because they were responsible for the work day and night.) They were to lift their hands and praise the Lord.  This means that they wouldn’t be spending their time only in watching, but also singing and pouring out their hearts in praise to the Lord.  No time to sleep here!  But…raising one’s hands in the sanctuary?  What does that mean?  Perhaps we can think of raising our hands as a symbol of surrender as well as offering up our lives to the Lord.  It’s also a sign of welcoming fellowship and communion with the Father.

We end the series of the Songs of Ascents with an answer of blessing back to the people.  We began the series in Psalm 120 with a theme of “this world is not my home” and end with Psalm 134 declaring that we are safe at home with God and His people.  It’s rather like climbing a mountain.  When we finally reach the peak or the end destination of the climb, what do we do?  We tend to look back and see how far we’ve come and the terrain that we’ve traversed.  So in reading through the Songs of Ascents, how far have you come? 
 
May you bless the Lord and may He bless you!
 
Prayer:
Father, we bless You and praise You for what you have done and are continuing to do in our lives.  May we keep our eyes on You as we go through life, surrender to You, and look forward to our heavenly home.  Amen.
 
Song:
Bless the Lord:  by Andre Crouch
youtu.be/_z2JOZ9h8MU