Psalm 134 - Behold! and Be Blessed

Introduction:

There is something deeply moving about songs that mark the end of a journey. Think of a graduation, when voices rise together to sing one last chorus before friends scatter to new callings. Or consider the hush of nightfall, when a lullaby closes the day with peace and hope for the morning. Psalm 134 is such a song, it is the final note in the collection of the Songs of Ascents. Pilgrims had traveled far, step by step, road by road, through danger and toil, until at last they stood in Zion, in the house of the Lord. And here, on the mountain, the very last word is not complaint, nor weariness, nor even triumph, it is worship.

This psalm is brief, just three verses, but it is like the benediction of the entire pilgrimage. It reminds us that the ultimate purpose of our lives, and indeed the very reason God has redeemed us, is that we might bless Him and be blessed by Him. In this closing ascent, we are invited to see three things: the call to worship, the posture of worship, and the blessing of worship. And as we look, we will see not only ancient pilgrims but also ourselves, for our Christian journey too ends in worship, in the eternal blessing of God through Christ.

Point 1 – See the Call to Worship (v.1)

“Behold, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who serve by night in the house of the LORD!”

The psalm begins with a summons: “Behold.”  That word is not a throwaway, it is the Holy Spirit’s way of grabbing us by the shoulders. It means, “Pay attention! Fix your eyes here. Don’t miss this.” In other words, worship does not begin with our own ideas, feelings, or readiness. Worship begins with God calling His people to look up. Just as creation began with God’s word, so also worship begins with God’s word.

And what does He call us to do? “Bless the LORD.” Now, we must be clear: when we “bless” God, we are not adding to Him. We cannot improve Him or enrich Him, He is already perfect and lacking in nothing. To “bless” the LORD (Hebrew: barak) is to bow the knee in praise, to speak well of His great name, to acknowledge His majesty and goodness.

Psalm 134:1 and the command to “Bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD” takes us to the very heart of why worship exists, to magnify and make much of the Name of God. To “bless the LORD” is to ascribe to Him the honor due His name (Psalm 29:2), to speak well of His character, and to lift high His reputation among men. When we bless the Lord, we are not adding anything to His glory, He is eternally perfect but we are acknowledging, displaying, and delighting in that glory. In a sense, worship is the echo of God’s own greatness in the heart of the redeemed. The Hebrew word barak carries the idea of kneeling in reverence, of a creature bowing joyfully before its Creator. Every act of true worship is a public confession that His Name is worth more than our comfort, more than our pride, and more than all creation itself.

Scripture reveals that God Himself guards the sanctity of His Name with a holy jealousy. In Exodus 20:7, the third commandment warns, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain,” for the Name represents God’s very identity and honor. To misuse it is to profane His revealed character. Later, in Ezekiel 20:22 and again in Ezekiel 36:19–23, God declares that even when Israel rebelled and profaned His Name among the nations, He withheld immediate judgment “for the sake of My Name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations.” The Lord’s actions in mercy and discipline alike were motivated by a passion to vindicate His holy Name. He redeems His people, not because they deserve it, but because His reputation as the covenant-keeping God must stand. In Ezekiel 44, as the temple vision unfolds, God’s concern for the holiness of His worship centers once again on the purity of His Name and presence.

Therefore, when the psalmist calls the servants of the Lord to “bless the LORD,” he is inviting us to participate in God’s own zeal for His Name. Every hymn, every prayer, every word of gratitude is an echo of heaven’s anthem: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.”  To bless His Name is to join in that eternal proclamation, to live and speak in such a way that the world sees how weighty and wonderful our God truly is. It is to say with our lips and our lives that His Name, which He Himself protects, is worthy to be lifted high forever.

Notice who is called: “all you servants of the LORD, who serve by night in the house of the LORD.” These were the Levites and priests assigned to temple duty, keeping the lamps burning, tending to the sacrifices, singing psalms even while others slept. Their work by night symbolized something profound—God is never off duty. His watchful care does not take a break when the world grows dark. His covenant love is as steady at midnight as it is at noon. And so His servants were there, even in the stillness of the night, blessing His name.

Christian, does that not remind you of your own life? There are seasons where it feels like perpetual night—the grief of loss, the sting of sin, the ache of unanswered prayers. And yet the call still stands: “Bless the LORD.” Why? Because He does not slumber or sleep (Ps. 121:4). Because His mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:22–23). Because Christ Himself, our Great High Priest, ever lives to intercede for us, day and night (Heb. 7:25). Even in the dark, worship is possible, because God’s light shines in the night.

So let us hear the call. Worship is not optional; it is the very reason we were made and redeemed. The pilgrim journey of faith does not end in comfort, riches, or ease, it ends here, with blessing the Lord.

Point 2 – See the Posture of Worship (v.2)

“Lift up your hands to the sanctuary and bless the LORD.”

If verse 1 gives us the call to worship, verse 2 gives us the posture of worship. The psalmist says: “Lift up your hands.” Now, in ancient Israel, the lifting of hands was not a charismatic flourish or a cultural quirk, it was a deeply symbolic act. To lift one’s hands was to declare dependence: “Lord, my hands are empty, and I need You to fill them.” It was to declare surrender: “Lord, I am Yours, I come open before You.” And it was to declare adoration: “Lord, all my praise rises up to You.”

Notice also the direction: “to the sanctuary.”  The sanctuary was the holy place where God had chosen to dwell among His people. It was not simply a building, it was the visible reminder that the holy, transcendent God had stooped down to live in covenant fellowship with Israel. To lift one’s hands toward the sanctuary was to focus worship not inward on feelings, not outward on circumstances, but upward on God’s presence.

Here is the important lesson: worship is not about what pleases us, but about what pleases Him. In our culture, we often treat worship like a consumer experience, “Did the music move me? Did the sermon feed me? Did the service suit me?” But Psalm 134 says, “Lift your hands toward Him.”  Worship is God-centered, not man-centered. It is about His holiness, His presence, His glory.

And here is where Christ fulfills this verse so beautifully. The sanctuary of stone is no more. Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). He was speaking of the temple of His body. Christ Himself is the true sanctuary, the dwelling place of God with man. When we lift our hands in prayer and praise, we are not reaching toward an earthly building in Jerusalem; we are reaching toward Christ, exalted in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father. He is our access. He is our temple. He is our meeting place with God.

So let me ask you: when you come to worship, what is the posture of your heart? Are your hands clenched tight, clinging to control, or are they open in surrender? Do you approach worship distracted, casual, even careless? Or do you come as one who knows you stand before a holy God, whose Son opened the way with His own blood? The psalmist says, “Lift up your hands to the sanctuary and bless the LORD.” That is the right posture of worship: reverent, dependent, God-centered, Christ-focused.

And yet worship is not one-sided. It is not only about us blessing God, it is also about God blessing us. The psalmist closes with the sweetest reminder: worship ends in benediction, in the blessing of the Lord Himself.

Point 3 – See the Blessing of Worship (v.3)

“May the LORD bless you from Zion, He who made heaven and earth.”

The psalm begins with us blessing God, but it ends with God blessing us. This is no accident. Worship is not a one-way street where we give and God receives. No, worship is a covenantal exchange: God calls, His people respond, and then God, in His overflowing grace, sends them away with His blessing. What a beautiful picture of the Lord’s Day worship service itself: we gather, we lift our hearts in praise, and then, before we leave, God places His benediction upon us, reminding us that He is with us.

Notice where the blessing comes from: “from Zion.”  Zion was the place where God had made His dwelling among His people. It was the earthly symbol of His heavenly presence, the mountain of His covenant. Every blessing Israel received, whether harvest in the fields, protection from enemies, or forgiveness of sins, was understood to flow from Zion, where God sat enthroned in His sanctuary.

But the psalmist doesn’t stop there. He lifts our eyes even higher: “He who made heaven and earth.”  This God is not a local deity, not a tribal spirit bound to one people or one place. No, the God who blesses His people is the Maker of everything that exists. He is sovereign over the cosmos. And here is the marvel: the infinite Creator stoops down to bless finite creatures. The God who spoke galaxies into being now speaks His peace over His children.

And once again, all of this finds its fulfillment in Christ. Zion was only a shadow of the true dwelling place of God. Hebrews 12 tells us that in Christ we have come to “Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:22). The blessings that flow from Zion are no longer tied to geography or temple walls, they flow from Jesus Himself, the Mediator of the new covenant. Paul says in Ephesians 1:3 that in Christ we have been blessed with "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." Think of that! Every blessing the Father has for His children comes through the nail-scarred hands of His Son.

So what does this mean for us today? It means that when you come into worship and you bless the Lord with your lips and your heart, you never leave empty-handed. You may leave weary in body, but you will not leave without God’s benediction. You may leave to face trials in the week ahead, but you will not leave without God’s promise: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). You may leave with burdens still heavy, but you leave under the blessing of the God who made heaven and earth, who governs all things for your good in Christ Jesus.

That is why the psalm ends this way. Pilgrimage ends not with the sound of our voices, but with the voice of God. The final word in worship is not ours to Him, but His to us: “May the LORD bless you.”

Conclusion

Psalm 134 is brief, but it is not small. In three verses it takes us on the whole journey of worship: the call to bless the Lord, the posture of lifting our hands toward Him, and the blessing that flows back from His throne to His people. It is a dialogue between heaven and earth. God calls; we respond; God blesses. Worship, then, is not a mere religious exercise, it is the very rhythm of covenant life with the living God.

But friend, here is the question: can you truly join in this song? Can you honestly bless the Lord from the heart, knowing that He is your God and you are His child? The truth is, on our own, we cannot. Our lips may speak, but our hearts are too often far away. Sin has bent our posture, turned our faces inward, and left our hands clinging to idols. The very call to worship that Psalm 134 opens with exposes our deepest problem, we cannot bless the Lord as we ought.

And this is why Christ came. He is the faithful worshiper who never failed to bless His Father, not in the morning and not in the night. When we were silent, He sang. When our hands were stained, His were lifted in holiness. When our hearts wandered, His was steadfast. And on the cross, His hands were stretched wide in ultimate surrender, bearing the curse of our unfaithfulness so that we might receive the blessing of His righteousness. Paul tells us in Galatians 3:13–14 that Christ became a curse for us, in order that the blessing of Abraham might come to us through Him.

So here is the gospel call: turn from your sin and believe in Christ. Stop clinging to your own empty efforts to bless God, and instead receive the blessing He freely offers in His Son. Come to Him in faith, and you will find that every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is yours in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:3). Then, and only then, will your lips and your life truly echo the pilgrim’s song: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.”

And for those of us who belong to Him already, take heart. Your journey is not in vain. Your pilgrimage will not end in weariness, but in worship. One day, the night watches will be over, the final ascent will be complete, and you will stand in the heavenly Zion. And there, in the new creation, the last word will not be yours, but His: “Behold, the dwelling of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God… and they will reign forever and ever” (Rev. 21:3; 22:5).

So, bless the Lord now in faith, and wait for the day when His blessing will be yours forever.

Watch the full sermon here: