A quick note: Since I’m doing a series on the Songs of Ascent, I probably should have begun with Psalm 120. I chose to skip it last week because its subject matter is considerably darker than the psalms that follow. But as I worked my way through the series, I realized that Psalm 120 belongs here—and perhaps its message is especially worth hearing.
So, a week late, we begin at the beginning.
If you’d like to read my essay on Psalm 121, you can find it here:
The Songs of Ascent begin in an unexpected place: not at the temple, not at the end of a journey, but in distress.
Psalm 120 opens with a cry for help from someone surrounded by “lying lips” and a “deceitful tongue.” The psalmist knows what it is like to be misrepresented, falsely accused, and surrounded by people whose words are intended to harm. His circumstances have become so difficult that he feels like a stranger living among people who have no love for peace.
Yet there is something striking in his response.
He does not answer deceit with deceit. He does not answer hostility with hostility. Instead, he cries out to Yahweh. He places the matter in the hands of the God of truth and trusts Him to deal with those who use their words as weapons.
Then comes a simple statement that may be the heart of the psalm: “I am for peace.”
That declaration feels particularly relevant in a world where arguments are easy to find and anger can spread with remarkable speed. The psalmist is not naïve about the people around him. He knows there are those who “hate peace.” He knows that even when he speaks for peace, others may respond with conflict.
But their hostility does not change his calling.
Psalm 120 reminds us that following God does not mean we will always live in peaceful circumstances. Sometimes we will find ourselves surrounded by conflict, false accusations, and people who seem determined to misunderstand us. What matters is how we respond.
We can entrust our reputation to the God of truth. We can refuse to repay evil with evil. And even when others choose war, we can remain people who are for peace.
Perhaps that is why this is where the Songs of Ascent begin. Before the journey leads us upward, we first learn where to turn when the world around us becomes difficult.
We cry out to Yahweh – and we keep walking.
But the psalmist’s response is simple: “I am for peace.”
Even when others choose conflict, we can choose peace. Even when we are falsely accused, we can entrust ourselves to the God of truth.
Psalm 120 reminds us that the journey toward God sometimes begins in the middle of difficult circumstances.
A Song of Ascent.
Steven Stoops -- TUCOR Five One Seven Productions 
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