Road Trip

by Brian Lowe | Apr 28, 2014 | Blog, Community, Worship

Road trips with a family are always “fun.” Fun could be listening to the “he’s touching me” shouting match from the back seat or hearing your kids sing their favorite song from Charlotte to Greenville non-stop. Fun can look like kids getting car sick driving through the mountains. Then, there are those blessed moments when “fun” really is fun, like when you realize that your kids are actually being kind to one another and sharing their toys, or driving through the entrance of Disney after the long drive to Orlando. Road trips are a mixed bag of joy and pain, excitement and sadness, victory and defeat. And if Rascal Flatts is right, then life is going to be a mixed bag as well.

Since life is going to be a mixed bag of experiences and emotions, we need a Bible that can engage the whole spectrum of our lives. This is one of the reasons I love the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120–134). You have the reality of distress (120) and joy (122). We see incredible truths about our God (121) and are reminded that He is on our side (124). The Psalms of Ascent are among those places in the Bible where we see that God’s Word speaks clearly and candidly into the mixed bag of our experience.

Interestingly, scholars think that the Psalms of Ascent were road-trip songs for the people of God on their way to Jerusalem for Passover. Pilgrims road-tripping to Jerusalem to celebrate that they were God’s redeemed people delivered from God’s wrath because of the blood of the Lamb would sing these songs along their journey. Like our Old Testament brothers, these songs can help us learn to celebrate our identity as God’s redeemed people delivered from God’s wrath by the blood of the Lamb, so that on this road trip called life, our hearts can be encouraged, shaped and comforted by the good news of our great God.

We want to encourage you to read ahead. Use the road map below so that you know what to read each week. There are also resources that will bless you in your personal study. We hope that our study of these road-trip songs will encourage you on your journey as part of God’s redeemed people delivered from God’s wrath by the blood of the Lamb.

Road Map for the Series

May 11: Psalm 121
May 18: Psalm 122
May 25: Psalm 123
June 1: Psalm 124
June 8: Psalm 125
June 15: Psalm 126
June 22: Psalm 127
June 29: Psalm 128
July 6: Psalm 129
July 13: Psalms 130–131
July 20: Psalm 132
July 27: Psalm 133

Resources

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Eugene Peterson

Songs for the Sojourn: Christ the King Raleigh

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