For about a decade there was prominently posted on our family’s refrigerator door the following counsel: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” Its purpose was to remind an active set of parents that busy-ness is not the same as being about the Father’s business. Keeping the main thing the main thing does not happen accidentally.
Beginning in Psalm 120 and ending in Psalm 134 are the Songs of Ascents—the psalms sung, chanted, or recited by the travelers as they ascended the roads leading to Jerusalem and its temple. The final psalm indicates that the pilgrimage has been completed successfully, for it is addressed to “all you servants of the Lord who by night stand in the house of the Lord” (v. 1).
This psalm gives a simple yet important reminder to all who are themselves spiritual sojourners and pilgrims (1 Peter 2:11): The focus of your pilgrimage itself and the end goal of the sojourn is to “bless the Lord” (vv. 1, 2). That is the main thing and keeping the main thing the main thing is the challenge of each pilgrim’s day.
