Scripture Reflections

The psalm for morning prayer yesterday (Ps. 84) celebrates being in the presence of God in his temple. Many of you likely remember its most famous line, “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” But as I prayed through the psalm yesterday morning, a much less famous verse leapt off the page:
 
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
 
The imagery of having highways in the heart grabbed my imagination and raised convicting questions! Highways can be rough or smooth, slow or swift, and dangerous or peaceful, just like the paths I travel in my heart—sometimes I choose the bumpiest or longest roads as I seek to follow God. Highways only matter if they are actually traveled—acknowledging what is right in my heart but not acting on it is pretty meaningless. In the end though, the most convicting question was raised by the simple reality that highways lead somewhere—there is a destination to the direction our hearts are pointed. For me, this raised the question, “Is my heart actually pointed towards Zion, to where God is?”
 
Hebrew poetry is based on parallelism; each pair of lines works together, complementing, contrasting, and explaining each other. The parallelism of this verse is beautiful, because it demonstrates that those whose heart-highways are aiming at God’s presence—those who view the throne room of God as their homeland and keep traveling there—are the same ones whose strength is in God. They don’t have to be strong on their own. God will be strong for them, because their heart is always longing for and traveling towards his throne.
 
May the highways of our hearts be to Zion!
 
Steven+