Read Psalm 125.
People talk about “God’s own country”. They’re usually thinking of some place that has special natural beauty. Maybe a fertile place, where the many blessings of nature are clear. We can think of the land promised to God’s own people, a land “flowing with milk and honey” (Ex 3:17).
The Jews thought that God had a special presence in special places. Since the coming of Jesus, we have a different understanding. The Jews believed that God was especially at home in the Temple. But when Jesus gave up his breath on Earth, the curtain in the temple was torn apart (Mt 27:51). Everyone could now have access to God.
But here we are in an Old Testament Psalm. It’s one of the “Psalms of Ascent”. Even Bible scholars are unsure about the purpose for this group of psalms. Some people think it was for pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. Others think it was for a time in the Temple liturgy, perhaps when priests were going up to the altar. It’s speculation. But both ideas connect to the thought that place is important – that idea of God’s own country.
One thing is worth noting here, though. God is in more than one place! Even in 60 BC, or whenever this psalm was written, God was not confined to the Temple. True, in verse 1, the temple site is named – it’s special. Faithful people might take inspiration from the seeing the temple on the holy hill. But we know what Jesus said about the temple, when the disciples were admiring how great it was (Mk 13:2). He predicted it would fall. Notice though that it’s not the temple itself, but Mount Zion which “cannot be shaken”. Sometimes we worship what we have built with God’s support, rather than giving credit to God, who is our foundation.
But even Psalm 125 looks beyond the temple and the hill it stands on. In verse 2, the psalmist says, “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore”.
So God is not flitting from place to place. God was never really contained inside the Ark of the Covenant, travelling from one place to another. No, the Lord surrounds his people. He is all around. The people feel protected.
The psalmist knew that things didn’t always go well for God’s people. Verse 3 uses the word “remain”: the sceptre of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous”. The Jews knew about banishment, about Babylon.
In this time where we are unable to go to our special places – maybe the heart-places which we might name as “God’s own country” – we are called to be faithful to what we know in Christ. God is with us everywhere. We do not need a holy city or a holy altar.
The Psalmist celebrated that God’s power was in the mountains all around. Years later, Jesus wept for Jerusalem. He, too, was moved to speak of an all-encompassing influence. He longed to gather the city to himself as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings (Mt 23:37).
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Jesus was heartbroken by the actions of those “with crooked ways”. But he didn’t go that way: he trusted in the Lord and pursued the way of peace. Jesus is now seated at God’s right hand, yet available to us all through the Holy Spirit. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the love of God embraces the universe. The temple curtain is torn. There are now no limits to God’s love.
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