Stepping Up

Last night, I attended the 2nd week of the Beth Moore Bible Study I’ve joined with my friend Heidi at her West side church. I am really enjoying it. Beth Moore is quite a powerful and energetic women's speaker, and her teaching has been doctrinally sound and so uplifting. WOW! Each week there is 5 days’ worth of homework, and so I have my work cut out for me, but there is just so much to glean from the Psalms of Ascent.

I don’t quite know how this Psalm series escaped my notice until now. [Kaleb, you posted 2 of those Psalms on the very first day of the Bible study, which made me chuckle.] OK, so am I the only one that didn’t know that Psalm 120-134 were called the Psalms of Ascent? Seriously, people! I know I’ve read these Psalms before, more than once. I even have a few of the verses memorized, but somehow I have never really studied them and didn’t know they were called the Psalms of Ascent or Songs of Ascent.

Last week in our Stepping Up study, Beth Moore related the history – how these Psalms were sung on the journey as the Jews would make their pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the 3 yearly feasts and how there are 15 Psalms just as their were 15 steps in the Temple between the Court of Women (the furthest point women were allowed to go in the temple) and the next innermost court, the Court of the Israelites, etc. And I was just sitting there dumbfounded and just soaking it all up in bewilderment! How did I not know about this?

It’s exciting in a way...how GOD’s Word isn’t stale, how HE continues to reveal new things to us along the way or in my case numerous new things lately. It’s been overwhelming, humbling and bittersweet at times, but all in all, it’s been awesome!

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.
Open the eyes of my heart.
I want to see You.
I want to see You.**

**Open the Eyes of My Heart – by Paul Baloche