We now come to the fifth of the Songs of Ascents. If we look at this song of deliverance carefully, we will find
that it is like a summary of progress so far. The tenth is also a sort of summary, the completion of the second
stage, and, of course, the fifteenth is the final in the series. So, in the fifteen Songs of Degrees, there are three
groups of five Psalms. Five, in the Scriptures, is the number of Grace, whereas three is the number of God.
This is Divine grace being brought before us as we trace the ascent of the soul to the place of full communion
with the Lord.
In this Psalm, David remembers what the Lord has done for him, sweet remembrances of the keeping power of
the Lord. You see, he is now in Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord. He is no longer far off and astray. He is
abiding in the Lord. We too, in John 15, are exhorted to abide in the Lord, just as the branches abide in the vine.
If we ever go astray, the Lord wants to bring us back to abide in Him. David is now abiding. It is not full or
constant communion, but he is moving onward and upward in that direction.
Here the Lord reminds him of His grace and mercy along the way. As he meditates on this, his heart is filled with
praise and adoration for the Lord. Today we come round the table of the Lord, a time of sweet remembrance of
all that the Lord has done for us. We were once astray or, as Ephesians puts it, afar off, strangers to the
covenants of promise, without hope and without God. To use the picture that Jesus gave, we were like sheep
lost on the mountain, in danger, far away from the safety of the fold. But Jesus came to find us and save us, to
bring us to Himself to enjoy rich fellowship and communion. God always wants to draw us back.
As David thinks on these things, his heart is filled with praise to God. When we come round the table and think
how the Lord rescued us from that pathway that was leading to destruction, how he gave His own life on the
cross, shedding His blood to save us, how our hearts fill with praise and worship. It is good to pause and think
back.
How sweet to think on what the Lord has done when we come round the table on Sunday! How it tunes our
heart to praise! It does concern me sometimes, during our time of worship, to see people just gazing blankly
around them, waiting for the end of the meeting. They seem unmoved, untouched and yet they take the bread
and wine. How can it be? Do those emblems stir no precious memory of the Lord's grace? We come to worship
the Lord and, if God's Word is really getting down into our heart, and we are being strengthened with might in the
inner man, then our whole being should be taken up with Him. We would worship Him just as David worshipped
Him, because he knew he was there only as a result of the grace of God. He had done nothing himself. But for
the grace of God he would be lost.
By the grace of God and through what He has done for us, and because His Spirit has been poured out into us,
we can love Him with our entire being. If you do not feel that love, if you do not feel that well of adoration springing
up within, then there is something wrong. The New Testament challenges us:
"Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith!" Now I do not want to put doubts into the minds of
people who are saved, but there are people who put on a show of religion, who are not saved. You should
experience a deep love for the Lord and a desire to worship Him.
David had reached this fifth step and he was saying, "Praise the Lord! Look what He's done for me! He's lifted
me up out of the miry clay. He's set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. Hallelujah! If it had not been
for the Lord on my side, I would have been lost." But look, David is not alone. The saying is taken up by all the
Lord's people. "If it had not been the Lord on our side, now may Israel say..." Everyone joins in together,
because the experience of salvation is something we share as brothers and sisters in the Lord. We can all say
the same thing. None can say we got this far by our own goodness and strength. No. The Lord helped us and
lifted us up. So we rejoice together. We worship and adore Him together, not just with words but from the heart,
in Spirit and in Truth.