The Stage of Enjoyment

Psalms 126-128:
The Stage of Enjoyment

Introduction and Review

We have seen that the Psalms of Ascent are a picture of the Christian life. As we follow the Lord we "ascend" in our experience. These psalms form a progression which can be divided into five stages of three psalms each. The first stage shows us a clear vision concerning three things:

the world
the Lord
the church life

This three-fold vision issues in the second stage, the stage of consecration. In this stage we consecrate ourselves:

to the Lord
to be separated from the world
to the Lord's trustworthiness

Our consecration to the Lord is also to His hand. The most important purpose of the Lord's hand is to discipline us. His discipline leads us to experience His supply, support, leading, and comfort for our transformation. After this, we consecrate ourselves to be separated from the world. We realize that the world is actually operating to defeat us. It is like a beast to swallow us up, a flood to carry us away, and a snare to capture us. When we give ourselves to the Lord we have the ability to escape from the world. Then finally, because we see the church, we consecrate ourselves to the Lord's trustworthiness.

Before we come to the next stage, we need to see something more about the third type of consecration. In our experience we have to admit that there are times when we lose the enjoyment of the church life. The church life is more difficult than any other life on earth. Even in the world, things are comparatively simple. But the church life is a family life, and in a family life no one can hide anything. Everyone knows everyone else. Therefore, the church life can be very complicated. For example, my disposition may frustrate you, and your character may frustrate me. My aggressiveness may become a pressure to you, and your slowness may become a burden to me. Eventually if we do not know how to properly consecrate ourselves we will have no way to go on. As we have seen, we do not consecrate ourselves directly to the church life. Instead, we consecrate ourselves to the trustworthiness of the Lord.

As we trust ourselves to the Lord, we learn that He is able both to care for us and to expose us. Within each of us there are two completely different parts. The first part is upright and comes from the Lord's dispensing, and the second part is full of iniquity and comes from our fallen nature. Concerning the first part, we can trust the Lord to bring it out in full and cause it to prevail. Concerning the second part, we can trust the Lord to expose it in full so that it can be judged and dealt with. This is the healthy desire of a consecrated person. Because we trust the Lord, we can commit ourselves fully to Him. When we have such a complete consecration - first, to the Lord and to His hand; second, to be separated from the world; and third, to the Lord's trustworthiness - we can come to the next stage, the stage of enjoyment.

To purchase the book Journey of Life; the Psalms of Ascent and Song of Songs