Tonight we looked at Psalm 84 and our identity as pilgrims. Last time we looked at the fact that we are blessed (a fact reinforced in Ps 84:4, 5, 12); for the psalmist, being blessed means being in God’s presence, dwelling in His house.
A pilgrim (a traveller who undertakes a pilgrimage, a journey to a special place associated with God) is someone who is keen to encounter (and be changed by) God. To this day, special places are associated with pilgrimages (e.g. Walsingham and Lindisfarne in the UK, Lourdes and Santiago di Compostela in Europe); in the USA, the Pilgrim Fathers were those who left Europe to make a fresh start in a new country and who thanked God for their safe arrival and first harvest (resulting in the annual Thanksgiving celebrations at the end of November.) The Bible often describes life as a journey: from Abram’s first journey from Ur and the nomadic lifestyle he adopted to the Magi who followed the star to find the One born king of the Jews (Matt 2:1-12). Peter describes us as ‘foreigners and exiles’ (1 Pet 2:11); there is a sense in which we are all journeying, but our ultimate destination is the presence of God which we will only fully experience in heaven (see Heb 11:13-16, Rev 21:3-4). Whilst on earth, we experience the ‘now and the not yet’, a sense of yearning for true fulfilment (see 2 Cor 4:16-18, 2 Cor 5:1-5) which will only be found in future glory.
Pilgrims are people who are looking up, whose minds are set on things above, whose eyes are fixed on Jesus. (Heb 12:1-3, Col 3:1-4) Pilgrims are those who know that this present world, with all its corruption, trials and troubles, cannot compare to the glory that awaits us when we are finally with God. The journey on a pilgrimage can be hard-going; there can be enemies around; the weather isn’t always favourable; the terrain can be rough. But the Lord God is a sun and shield; He bestows favour and honour – blessing! He is not a mean God, but is lavishly generous. No wonder the psalmist concludes that ‘blessed is the one who trusts in You.’ (Ps 84:12)
As Phil Wickham puts it in his song ‘Children of God’, we are ‘pilgrims/ on a journey to reach our home.’ We may not be there yet, but as we pass through the Valley of Baka, we can make it a place of springs; we can go from strength to strength, for God goes with us every step of the way.