Psalm 133: True and Eternal Unity

• Read Psalm 133 from the ESV.
• Read my Psalm 133 poem from A New Song.

In this, the penultimate Song of Ascents, David writes of unity. But this is not unity for unities sake. This unity comes as we draw closer to God’s throne — the only place where true and lasting unity exists.

I recall during my time in high school, both as a student and as a teacher, every year there would be a call for class unity. This often compelled people to dress up in odd ways and jump around at odd times. But as I got older it was something for which I lost my interest; and quite frankly I never really understood. Don’t get me wrong, I know that people long to feel bonded together, that is the nature of humanity. We long for community. We long for intimacy. We deeply desire to belong to something greater than ourselves. But everything we fabricate to fulfill these longings is a mere shadow of the true unity for which we were actually created. In this fallen world we will grasp for any straw we can find.

I remember talking to a former director the night after we had finished a show and everyone was out to a local establishment for the cast party. He was from New York and had come into town solely for the purpose of seeing this show to its conclusion. The next day he was flying back to New York and didn’t know when or if he would return to Ohio. He was snuggled up quite intimately with what appeared to be his “better half” at the bar. I awkwardly said that I didn’t know he was dating anyone, to which he responded, “I’m not. But you take what you can because you can’t get what you want.” I, stupidly, just nodded a silent ascent and went on with the night. But his words stuck with me for quite some time.

Upon reflection, I think if you swap out the word “want” for “need” he perfectly described how many of us approach our deep need to know and be known. We take what we can because we can’t get what we need.

We need eternal unity which can only be found in eternal intimacy. But since we either don’t know how to find that or aren’t willing to subject ourselves to it, we settle for lesser things. These lesser things are not always bad, in fact, many of them are quite beneficial. At church, we attend small groups, bible studies, church socials, and worship services. Outside of church, we watch sporting events, play on teams, and enjoy fantasy sports. For those who are a bit less “sporty,” we join an acting troupe at a local theater or go camping, hunting, and fishing with friends. The list can go on and on and on. We choose these activities because we believe they provide for us a place to belong. And they do.

But what we don’t realize is how these gatherings, in and of themselves, quickly become the focus of our lives. Any and all deeper reason for gathering disappeared long ago and now we attend merely because we want to be with people. We invest ourselves completely in the group, which isn’t a bad thing. But when the time comes — and it will come, as there always comes a time — when the group disbands, or we move, or we outgrow it, or we lose interest. At that time we find ourselves — our very soul — filled with a sense of loss, and then we begin looking for the next new group or new thing to satisfy our emptiness.

Unfortunately, there are other times when our search leads us into things that are not so good and noble; but that path ends the same way.

Psalm 133 stands as the penultimate Song of Ascent because true unity — everlasting unity with other believers — is not our final goal, but it is the result of us reaching our final goal. Imagine that Augustine had penned his famous words in a slightly different way to read, “You have made us for each other, and our heart is restless till it finds its rest in our human community.” If he had said that, I don’t believe we would still be quoting him: his words would have passed silently into history. The reason we still quote him is because he didn’t write that, he wrote this, “You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless till it finds its rest in you.”

Psalm 133 begins with a statement of how beautiful human unity can be. This is because we were created to be unified together, and when that happens, it is beautiful. But the psalm also speaks of how it is the LORD, the covenant-making God, who brings this unity into existence and blesses it with eternal life. Unity forevermore.

True unity is not found in being a member of the senior class. It is not found in being a member of the state championship athletic team. It is not even found in being a member of a small group, a worship team, or some other organization. It is found at the top of the Songs of Ascent, as we draw closer to God himself. It is found in the eternal, unchanging, and infinitely beautiful God who grants us eternal life in which we will constantly be discovering more beauty in him — the reason for our unity. And, without giving away the “punch line,” it should be of no great surprise what we will find in the ultimate Song of Ascent, Psalm 134: the only thing that can unify a people forever is worshiping God in the presence of God. And that will be a thing of true and eternal beauty.