Lesson 1 Pilgrim S Staircase

TO WHAT DEGREE?

Lesson 1 Pilgrim’s Staircase

Overview

Psalm 120:1-7 (AMP) 1 IN MY distress I cried to the Lord, and He answered me. 2 Deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues. 3 What shall be given to you? Or what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue? — 4 Sharp arrows of a [mighty] warrior, with [glowing] coals of the broom tree! 5 Woe is me that I sojourn with Meshech that I dwell beside the tents of Kedar [as if among notoriously barbarous people]! 6 My life has too long had its dwelling with him who hates peace. 7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

1. A) Check chapter headings only of Psalm 120 through 134 (KJ) and what do you notice? ___

B) From a dictionary, define the word “degree”. ______

‌One of a series of steps in a process, course, or progression.

C) Read Nehemiah 12:37. The word “stairs” is the same Hebrew word as degree. What picture comes to mind when you think of stairs? ______

Nehemiah 12:37 (AMP)37 At the Fountain Gate they went up straight ahead by the stairs of the City of David at the wall's ascent above David's house to the Water Gate on the east.

D) Others translate Psalm 120 through 134 as Psalms of ascent. See also Psalm 24:1-3. What does it mean to ascend? ______

Psalm 24:1-3 (AMP) 1 THE EARTH is the Lord's, and the fullness of it, the world and they who dwell in it. 2 For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the currents and the rivers. 3 Who shall go up into the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His Holy Place?

E) Some scholars believe these “songs of ascent” was sung by pilgrims as they traveled to Jerusalem, - the city of peace - what spiritual application could we apply to this suggestion? ___

F) Some scholars believe these “songs of ascent” was sung pausing upon each of the 15 steps leading into the temple. What spiritual application could we apply to this suggestion? ___

G) Some scholars see these “songs of ascent” in spiritual application as regarding the Christian’s journey from conversion to maturity. Why would this be important for a Christian? _

H) How would having the steps to Christian maturity spelled out for us serve as a mirror toreflect our individual level of spirituality? ______

2. A) Where does a Christian’s spiritual journey begin? ______

B) Does it end there? Y ___ N ___ Explain. ______

3. A) Personal What was/are the circumstances in your life now or at the time of your conversion to Jesus?

B) Personal Would you say you were in a period of distress?

C) Personal Would you be willing to take the necessary steps to be released from your distress?

4. In your own words, recount the progression from living in darkness to walking in the light of Jesus Christ. ______

5. In your own words, recount the progress from being “born again in Christ” to spiritual maturity? ______

6. A) Read Psalm 120:1-7. What state of mind did David find himself? Verse 1a ______

B) Considering “distress” = trouble, tribulation, adversity, affliction; describe David’s plight? __

C) What did David do? Verse 1 b, c ______and HE ______

I cried to the Lord, and He answered me.

D) What is the difference between crying out and praying? ______

E) What tense are these verbs (b and c)? ______

I cried to the Lord, and He answered me

F) Would you say that these verbs being past tense indicates that David had taken some action? Y ___ N ___ What action? ______

G) Would you say that it usually takes some kind of distress before we cry out to the LORD?

Y ___ N ___

H) What did David want God to do? Verse 2a ______

2 Deliver me, O Lord

I) What did he want delivered from? Verse 2 b, c ______and ______

…from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.

J) From this description, how would you describe David’s companions? ______

K) Have you ever found yourself in a similar place of distress? Y ___ N ___

What did you do? ______

7. A) The word “distress” also = tightness or narrow. Can you be in a tight place without being immoral? Y ___ N ___ How/why? ______

B) Can you be in trouble without doing something unlawful? Y ___ N ___ How/why? ____

C) Have you ever been in a tight spot, not of your own making? Y ___ N ___ Explain. ____

8. A) According to Psalm 120:5. Where was David living? ______

5 Woe is me that I sojourn with Meshech that I dwell beside the tents of Kedar

B) Considering Mesech was located in Russia, and Kedar the far eastern part of Arabia [names of cities geographically], do you think David was talking figuratively or physically of these places? ______

C) Where do you suppose, David wanted to be? ______

D) If Jerusalem (The City of Peace) was David’s desire, would you say that David felt a great distance between himself and God and the people of God? Y ___ N ___

E) Have you ever sensed distance between yourself and God? Y ___ N ___ How did it make youfeel? ______

F) Do you think that everyone is consciously aware of it when they have strayed from the presence of God? Y ___ N ___ Explain. ______

9. A) What does it mean to be delivered from deceitful associations? ______

B) Would you say that a good gauge of your “spiritual temperature” is your comfort zone around unsaved people? Y ___ N ___ Explain. ______

C) Would you say that a good gauge of your “spiritual temperature” is where your thoughts settle when there is no immediate distraction? Y ___ N ___ Explain. ______

D) Would you say that a good gauge of your “spiritual temperature” is the level of desire you have for holy associations? Y ___ N ___

E) When David found himself in this place of discontent, what did he do? ______

10. A) What was it about David’s situation that upset him according to verse 6 and 7? ______

6 My life has too long had its dwelling with him who hates peace. 7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

B) Would you say that these people had a different value system than did David?

Y ___ N ___ In what way? ______

C) According to David (verse 6), how long had David endured his situation? ______

D) Do you think his reference to those hating peace, refers to loving war, stirring up trouble (stress), making life miserable (inner peace), or peace with God? ______Why? ______

E) Would/should any of these peace shakers stir concern within a Christian for deliverance?

Y ___ N ___

11. A) What does David say about himself in verse 7? ______

7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.

B) What did David want? ______

C) Do you think David needed peace with God? Y ___ N ___ Why? ______

D) Do you think David needed the peace of God? Y ___ N ___ Explain. ______

E) Explain the difference between peace with God and the peace ofGod. ______

F) What did David do when he found himself in this area of unrest? ______

G) What lesson could/should we learn from David’s example? ______

THE PILGRIM’S STAIRCASE

Syllabus 1

Any journey begins with the first step. Without action, we remain stagnant. Without effort, there is no change. We just stay stuck! Have you ever been stuck? Have you ever been in a narrow place, suffocating narrow place, with seemingly no hope of escape? Are you in such a place now? Are you disgusted with your situation enough to do something about it? If so, then this study is for you. We are about to begin a journey, out of the miry pit and onto spiritual maturity. You could find yourself on any step along the journey only to find that new circumstances have set you back or has plummeted you out of fellowship with God, feeling alone, and greatly in need of help. It has been suggested that until we reach that place of distress we become content with, immune to, indifferent to, or critical of, the “status quo”. Until the state of affairs become so disgusting to us we “groan” for change, we often choose to stay “stuck”. When we are stuck, we are in no position to grow. May I suggest to you that at any point we can cry out to God, and HE will hear us!

Psalm 120 through 134 are known as: A Song of Degrees (KJV), A Song of Ascents (NASB and others). Scholars suggest different views in regard to the actual ascent. Some believe that pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem would pause along the way and chant these songs. Pilgrims often traveled hundreds of miles to attend the feasts and these were long and arduous treks. Is yours a long and arduous trek? Other scholars suggest these songs were sung by the priests progressively upon the 15 steps into the temple. Have you progressed from the outer to the inner court - through the blood of Jesus Christ?

The idea of steps causes us to think upwards, to a higher degree. Imagine the symbolism of steps or degrees leading to the Temple of God and the entrance to the Holy of Holies. Jacobs’s ladder is a picture of such a stairway with angels ascending and descending. Other scholars suggest that the significance of the degrees or ascent is a musical connotation of an increasing crescendo; an appealing idea reflecting the Joy of entering into the Presence of GOD in worship! Still others see this ascent, these songs of degrees reflective of a journey to a higher place in God, a traveling forward to spiritual maturity, a spiritual staircase from distress to delight, and each step of the staircase represents a state of spiritual growth related to spiritual experience.

All of these explanations are plausible. I think God intended it so, because God is big enough to make all of them equally true. It is embarking on an adventure whose fulfillment is GOD HIMSELF.

Psalm 120 spells out the first step of becoming unstuck. It is called the step of distress. “In my distress, I cried out to the LORD, and he heard me.” David is telling us what he did, and then he tells us the circumstances that drove him to it. When enough became enough - David made the decision to act. He decided to embark on the first step out of his miry bog. In his distress, David cried out to the LORD! And the Glory of Glories is, God heard him!