Pilgrimage

Ezra 1; Psalms 84-85; Luke 7

“Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.”

Ezra 1:5 

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.”

Psalms 84:5-7

The exiles in Babylon had received promises that God’s plans were to prosper them, and to give them a future and a hope (Jer 29:11). They had received the word to seek the prosperity of the city to which the Lord had called them, because if it prospered, they too would prosper (Jer 29:7). When we enjoy prosperity, we get comfortable and think this world (or Babylon) is our home. Blessed are those whose hearts are set on pilgrimage! The remnant was called to return to Jerusalem at great cost. We are called to set our hearts on heaven, this world is not our home. Is our heart set on pilgrimage or have we become rooted in the comforts of where we are? 

Baka is weeping.  Sometimes the Lord allows pain in our lives to remind us that we are not home yet.  As we surrender our pain to the Lord, he redeems it, and turns that pain into a pool or spring of life that comes from him.  There is refreshment from the Lord on our pilgrimage, as we keep our eyes on Jesus.

“Lord Jesus, thank you for calling me to walk in the Spirit on pilgrimage with you, for your glory.”