Assuming it was David who wrote Psalm 119, I wonder what season he may have had in mind when he penned the fifty-forth verse.

Did he think to his time as a boy in his father’s house tending sheep while his brothers were at war? Or of the time in Saul’s house as he waited to see how God would fulfill his anointing as Israel’s future king? Maybe he was thinking of that season when he was on the run and living in caves, hunted by Saul’s house as they sought to remove him as a threat to the throne.

Perhaps, it was after he became king. Could it have been his season of sin, when his bones wasted away within him as he sought to hide from God his sin with his soldier’s wife? Or, was it the other time he as on the run, after Absalom’s coup attempt? Or, could he have been considering those years when his reign was going well and his armies were winning wars but he knew there was still a better kingdom to come?

What season of life was David thinking of when he wrote the following? Or, could he have been thinking of every season?

Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.

(Psalm 119:54 ESV)

What season was David calling to mind as he thought about “the house of my sojourning”?

Seems to me that the very nature of sojourning is change. That pilgrimage involves permutation — nothing today is quite the same as it was yesterday. To trek is to transition. To keep moving is to keep morphing. But that, along the way, there will be times where the pilgrimage seems to be put on pause. And residence is taken up in a house of sojourning.

Could be a place of peace and rest. But, just as likely, a den of difficulty and despair. A time of knowing where you’re going, but just as easily a time of having no clue what’s next. A house of ease, or a house of toil. Depending on the season, the house of our sojourning might look very different. A dwelling place of our choosing, or a desert we would have avoided if we could.

But while the nature of sojourning is change and unpredictability, what strikes me this morning is that there is always a song for every season.

Your statutes have been my songs . . .

My Bible is a God-breathed Psalter for my pilgrimage. Always providing words for the way. Lyrics for life. Songs for every season of sojourning.

Living and active, not only can the word of God cut deep, but it can also create a chorus and make a melody. His statutes providing the inspiration for a song of hope, a song of encouragement, a song of praise, and yes, sometimes even providing the lyrics for a song of lament.

The nature of pilgrimage is change. Of sojourning, different seasons. But the Word of God is unchanging. And it’s songs always ready to be sung.

No matter the house of our sojourning, there is a song for every season.

Amen?

By His grace. For His glory.