Psalm 134 – Praising the Lord in His House at Night:
A Song of Ascents.
“Behold, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who by night stand in the house of the Lord! 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord. 3 The Lord who made heaven and earth bless you from Zion!”
Alas, we have reached the last of the 15 Psalms of Ascent; it’s the shorter of the bunch, but it packs quite a wallop. We’re looking through the eyes of the psalmist to see what he might have observed or was referring to in this psalm. The ‘servants of the Lord’ are those stewards of God’s things and people who have been entrusted with the blessings and people He has bestowed upon them; be it in His temple in the OT or in our lives today, like our spouse or children, or grandchildren. Some of these servants, in this case, are worshippers, who would worship the Lord in true Israelite worship; complete with the music, the songs, the dancing, and the praising; all night long. The idea the psalmist is conveying here is that a 24/7 worship service is occurring at the temple in Jerusalem during David’s reign. I can imagine David, waking up in the middle of the night, walking over to the window of his palace bedroom and looking over the holy city. He can see the temple in the background with the lights and smoke from the temple fire pits ascending from it. He can hear the music in the distance and see the movement of the worshippers singing and people dancing before the Lord as they are prompted by the Holy Spirit to continue in their heavenly praise. This was Jerusalem during David’s reign.
Here in Kansas City we have IHOP, the International House of Prayer, hosted by Pastor Mike Bickel and his crew. You can Google them to get more information, watch them live on YouTube, or visit them on their website at https://ihopkc.org where you too can worship with them 24/7. There are various worship teams who have committed themselves to a schedule of leading worship, prayer, the reading of scripture, and such until Jesus returns for His Church. I have visited their campus a time or so because it’s local to where I live now. I have prayed and worshiped there with these folks. The worship teams are careful to change out the worship equipment while they are still worshipping the Lord so as not to disturb the flow of the Spirit as they transition. What they are doing there at the IHOP in Kansas City is what is depicted in this psalm here. Same God, different worshippers, different place, same result; to God be the glory.
The ‘servants of the Lord who are standing by night in the house of the Lord’ are lifting up their hands in the sanctuary and blessing the Lord; the same God who made heaven and earth, the Creator and Author of all life, the Savior of the world, for those who receive Him, Jesus. When we get to heaven, this is what we are going to do and be doing. I am sure we will be doing a lot of other stuff as well, but worshipping the Lord is what we do in heaven. This psalm depicts what was happening in Jerusalem during David’s reign and what we will be doing when Jesus reigns the earth from Jerusalem during His millennial reign; and what we will be doing when we all get to heaven. This is why it’s really important for you, man of God (and lady), to lift of holy hands in the sanctuary of your local church where you attend and support. This is a prototype of what is to come when we step across the veil into eternity. For some reason I want to eat pancakes now.
Maranatha!
Encouragemen is a blog written by Pastor Rob Lee, recently relocated to Northern Missouri. He lives with his wife of 33-years, near their three adult children, their spouses, and children (their grandchildren). Pastor Rob is an Ordained Assemblies of God minister, a former Lead Pastor (25 years), police chaplain, and community advocate. He continues to serve, consult, and disciple men of God, including those who are in the ministry.
Encourage Men 