Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
“May they be secure who love you!
Peace be within your walls
and security within your towers!”
For my brothers and companions' sake
I will say, “Peace be within you!”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.Psalm 122:6-9
The One Step Daily Devotional is intended to provide just one step each day for your journey with God. Every journey requires water breaks. Here is a water break for you.
What is it to have peace in your life? In Psalm 122:6-9, two words relate to our understanding of peace. The first is shalom, which refers to a general, all-encompassing peace in life.* The second, translated here as “secure,” is shalah, which means “to be at rest” or “to be undisturbed.”*
All of us want a peace in our life that extends into every area; we want to be at rest, without fear of disturbance. How do we get there?
Psalm 122 links this kind of peace with praying for the peace of Jerusalem. How does that work?
In the time when Psalm 122 was written, the people of Israel had just returned from exile in Babylon, and, according to Nehemiah 1:3 and Nehemiah 5, lived in very difficult circumstances.* Just because they were free, it didn’t meant they had no troubles. They needed peace and security in the most intense of ways.
When the psalmist connected love for Jerusalem and prayer for peace for Jerusalem to personal security, it wasn’t because there was a magical machine in Heaven that had a “love and pray for Jerusalem’s peace” button that would output personal security.
No, the psalmist connects love and prayers for peace for Israel to personal security because of the importance of Jerusalem to the community.* Have you ever heard, “when Mama’s not happy, ain’t no body happy?” When the center of Israel’s civic, religious, and community (Jerusalem) was at peace, so were the individual people as their connection to Jerusalem was purposeful, meaningful, and multi-layered.* The connection between a love for and prayers for the peace of Israel was logical, not mystical.
So what about us today? Should we pray for the peace of Jerusalem? If we do, will it impact our personal security? Yes. As believers in Jesus, we are grafted into the family of God (Romans 11:11-24). As a part of the people of God, the center of our history, the place of the origin of our faith, and our familial roots extend deeply into Jerusalem. Logically, if there is no peace in Jerusalem, we will also be impacted.
Today, take a step. Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to pray for peace in Jerusalem. Perhaps today God wants you to remember that peace and security are possible in Him. Maybe today God wants you to reflect on your connectedness to His people as a member of His family. Perhaps today God wants you to pray for peace in your city, nation, or capitol.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a water break… we all get thirsty.
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*Tucker, W. D., Jr. (2018). Psalms 107–150. In T. Muck (Ed.), Psalms (Vol. 2, pp. 743–744). Zondervan.
Allen, L. C. (2002). Psalms 101–150 (Revised) (Vol. 21, pp. 214–215). Word, Incorporated.
VanGemeren, W. A. (2008). Psalms. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms (Revised Edition) (Vol. 5, p. 899). Zondervan.
Fausset, A. R. (n.d.). A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments: Job–Isaiah: Vol. III (pp. 377–378). William Collins, Sons, & Company, Limited.