Daily Devotional For Thursday, May 14, 2026
Good morning and good day Southside! Our devotional reading for today comes from the Scripture reading found in the One Year Chronological Bible. The passage is Psalm 122:1:
“I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD’” (NLT).
For many Christians this is one of their favorite passages from Psalms. The context for Psalm 122 starts in Psalm 120 and Psalm 121. Psalm 120 discusses the brokenness of our world. Psalm 121 discusses the journey to a better world away from this broken world. Psalm 122 is about the arrival at this better world God has for us. So, this trinity of psalms begins with strife and ends with salvation. In Psalm 122:1, David writes it as if he was a pilgrim making his way to the city of Jerusalem being in wonder and awe as to what he saw, found and experienced.
David says he was “glad.” This is the Hebrew word [שָׂ֭מַחְתִּי. Samachti] and it is mostly translated as “rejoice, or rejoicing.” David writes, “I was rejoicing when they said to me, `Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” I need to let you in on a little secret here. David is prophetically and referencing the Temple, which had not been built yet. Though he will not be alive when the Temple is built to see pilgrims coming to it to worship God, he imagines what it will be like when the Temple is built by his son Solomon.
We often read this as a present reality for David, but it was not. You can read, hear and feel his infectious rejoicing over visualizing pilgrims coming to the Temple to make their sacrifices and seeking God’s forgiveness from their sins. He was visualizing pilgrims coming into the Temple as sinners being in the presence of God without being consumed by fire or burnt alive. In this place, David visualized the priests functioning as mediators between a holy God and His people seeking forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration between God and His people.
Psalm 122:2 says, “Our feet are standing, Within your gates, O Jerusalem” (NASB). It is obvious that the Apostle Paul had this in mind when he wrote Romans 5:2, “Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory” (NLT). Meaning, in the past we used to stand in a different sinful place and now we stand as redeemed sinners sharing in God’s glory.
Psalm 122:3 says, “Jerusalem, that is built, As a city that is compact together” (NASB). By “compact,” David is not referring to being crowded or people being packed in it like sardines in a can. Rather, he is referring to how securely built it is. There are no cracks in its walls. It is not a city divided as Berlin was after WWII. This is a city where everyone feels safe. For David, he knew God dwelt in heaven but for His people, Jerusalem would be a visible, tangible place where God dwelt also.
Was Jerusalem always a God-fearing, God-serving city? No. In fact, by the time of Jesus, Jesus prophesied that a day of doom was coming for Jerusalem in Luke 19:41-44:
“When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, (42) saying, ‘If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. (43) For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, (44) and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation’” (NASB).
The Jerusalem in Psalm 122:1-5 was never a reality. It was a city visualized by faith in the heart of David. This Jerusalem that David visualized by faith over 3,000 years ago is yet to come. We read about it in Revelation 21:10-14. This new Jerusalem will have “the glory of God” as it comes down out of heaven to this earth.
Reflection Assignment: When we read Psalm 122:1, is this how you feel when you come into the house of the Lord? Why or why not? If your answer is “no,” would you consider doing what God instructs in 2 Chronicles 7:14? And David visualized this in faith for the future, he was rejoicing. Do you really rejoice when you come into the “house of the Lord?” Why or why not? If your answer is “no,” then do you mean to imply that your disgruntledness is more important to you than rejoicing and praising God who saved you?
Scripture To Meditate On: 2 Chronicles 7:14, “And My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Lord, I need an attitude adjustment. I need to humble myself before You, pray, seek Your will, turn from my sin so that You will forgive me, restore me and then heal me so that I can be used by You. Lord, I then need to visualize in faith like David did to see how You are going to use me to bring heaven to others here. I promise to be glad, to rejoice whenever I enter Your house (church) and I will rejoice to do whatever You ask me to do. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly