Psalms 122:1
A Song of degrees of David. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
122:1. Good children are pleased to go home, and glad to hear their brothers and sisters call them thither. David’s heart was in the worship of God, and he was delighted when he found others inviting him to go where his desires had already gone: it helps the ardor of the most ardent case to hear others inviting them to a holy duty. The word was not “go,” it was let us go; hence the ear of the psalmist found a double joy in it. He was glad for the sake of others: glad that they wished to go themselves, glad that they had the courage and liberality to invite others. He knew that it would do them good; nothing better can happen to us than to love the place where God’s honor dwells. But David was glad for his own sake: he loved the invitation to the holy place, he delighted in being called to go to worship in company, and, moreover, he rejoiced that good people thought enough of him to extend their invitation to him. Some people would have been offended, and would have said, “Mind your own business; let my religion alone”; but not so King David, though he had more dignity than any of us, and less need to be reminded of his duty. He was glad to go into the house of the Lord, glad to go in holy company, glad to find good men and women willing to have him in their society. He may have been sad before, but this happy suggestion cheered him up. He pricked up his ears at the very mention of his Father’s house. Is it so with us? Are we glad when others invite us to public worship, or to church fellowship? Then we shall be glad when the spirits above call us to the house of the Lord not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We love our Lord, and therefore we love his house, and pangs of strong desire are upon us that we may soon reach the eternal abode of his glory. An aged saint, when dying, cheered herself with this evidence of grace, for she cried, “I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth,” and therefore she begged that she might join the holy congregation of those who forever behold the King in his beauty. Our gladness at the bare thought of being in God’s house is detective as to our character, and prophetic of our being one day happy in the Father’s house on high. In prospect of the Lord’s day, and all its hallowed associations, our soul rejoices. How well, also, may it refer to the church! We are happy when we see numerous bands ready to unite themselves with the people of God. The pastor is specially glad when many come forward and ask of him assistance in entering into fellowship with the church. No language is more cheering to him than the humble request, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.”
The Treasury of David by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)
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