Psalm 122 is the third Psalm in our study.  Psalm 120 is the psalm of repentance.  Psalm 121 is the psalm of trust.  Psalm 122 is the psalm of worship – a demonstration of what people of faith everywhere and always do : gather in an assigned place and worship God.

The King James version of the first verse has probably the most familiar translation that says, “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.’”

Why are we called, why are we compelled,to worship?  To assemble for worship is voluntary.  No one forces us to do it.  Why do we?

Peterson says that the Psalm singles out three reasons:  worship gives us a workable structure for life; worship nurtures our need to be in relationship with God and worship centers our attention on the decisions of God.

The Psalm says that Jerusalem is a place built for worship.  It is a place set aside for worship, just as our church is.  Some would say that they can worship God just as well on the golf course or in a boat on Kerr Lake.  Can you really worship God as well there as you can in His house?

The Psalm also says that all the different tribes assemble to worship.  We are the same.  We assemble on Sunday morning coming from different places and we come out of various conditions.  We come with our individual problems, concerns and needs.  With all our differing levels of intelligence and wealth, background and eduction, still, in worship, we gather into a single whole.

I witnessed that in the worship service this past Sunday.  Ellen’s sermon spoke of the tragedy in Haiti and the examples of God’s presence in the many acts of compassion.  As she went through her sermon, I was struck by how quiet it was in the sanctuary.  No one coughed. No child was talking.  For a time, hardly anyone was even moving.  We truly had come together as a single whole.  That can only happen when we assemble together.

We also worship because it nurtures our need to be in relationship with God.  Worship is the place where we obey the command to worship God.  Worship is voluntary.  We are not forced to do it.  We worship because we want to.  We do not worship because we fell like it.  If we only worship when we felt like it, there probably would not be much worshiping going on.  I hate to admit it, but more than once I have thought to myself, “I really don’t feel like going to church today.”  Haven’t you felt the same way at times?

We worship, even when we do not feel like it.  Peterson says that we can act out way into a new way of feeling much quicker than we can feel our way into a new way of acting.  Worship is an act that develops feeling for God, not a feeling for God that is expressed in the act of worship.

We also worship because    in it our attention is centered on the decisions of God.  The decisions of God are set out for us the the word of God and the word of God is everywhere in worship.  From the call to worship to the benediction,  we hear God’s word.  Worship is the place where, more than any other, our attention is focused on the word of God.

The time we spend in worship prepares us for the rest of our week.  Worship does not satisfy our hunger for God – it whets our appetite.  Our need for God is not taken care of by engaging in worship – it deepens.  Worship initiates an extended, daily participation in the peace and prosperity of God that we can share with others in our daily rounds.