Many of us have our favorite pieces of music pulled together into a playlist on Spotify or on our phones. If we’re heading off on a journey, or we need to unwind, we set it to play. Within the book of Psalms, there is a playlist for a journey. Psalms 120–134 all bear the heading “A Song of Ascents”—commonly understood to be sung as the Jewish people made their way to Jerusalem for the three annual feasts.

Old Testament scholar Alec Motyer describes the collection as “possibly the loveliest single group of psalms in the whole Psalter.” The whole collection is one of a journey. Starting far from home, they take us repeatedly toward Jerusalem, and eventually to the Lord’s house itself. Rescued, redeemed, returned, restored, rejoicing.

The journey theme is why these psalms resonate so much with us. They are grittily realistic—no wide-eyed optimism here. In this world, believers are slandered (Ps. 120), catastrophe looms (Ps. 124), injustice threatens to reign (Ps. 125), tears flow (Ps. 126), and sin engulfs (Ps. 130). But God is always sufficient, and the hope of home is always present. They fit our experience and our longings. They are perfect songs for the journey.

But what if there was a reason to love them even more? What if they weren’t so much written for us, but for someone else on a journey?

Come with me and walk beside a group of men traveling south from Galilee to Jerusalem. One man is striding out in front with focus and determination. And as He walks, He sings—they all do—these Psalms of Ascent. Listen to Him sing them, because you will hear them sung like never before. They were our Savior’s playlist, His songs for the journey, before they were ours.

He sings of Himself and His mission. He is on His way to the feast, to the Passover, but He is the Passover Lamb, and these are His songs. He sings of His trials, His trust, and His anticipation of triumph. And He sings to us—assuring us of the outcome of His journey to Jerusalem.

Listening to Him sheds new light on all these psalms, and it helps us with the psalms that don’t quite make it into our favorites. Too often, we can pass over some psalms because we don’t identify with them. But what if, instead of trying to find our voice in the psalm, we stop to listen for His voice?

Take all you know about who sings them, and see what will happen. Hear Him sing these as He journeys to the cross. Sometimes He sings of Himself, sometimes to us, sometimes with us. Each psalm repays richly when you hear His voice. Here is a taste.…

Hear Him Sing of Himself

Psalm 120—Hear your Savior sing of His longing for home: “Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek….Too long I have lived among….” For your sake and mine, He cries this anguished “woe.” He goes to Jerusalem to walk into a maelstrom of lies: “I am for peace, but when I speak they are for war!”

Psalm 131—The exalted Son humbles Himself—a precursor of Philippians 2. He restrains His divinity and doesn’t involve himself with “matters great” outside His earthly remit. He calms His soul as He heads to the cross—what a monumental work! And He calls us not to waste His pain.

Hear Him Sing with Us

Psalm 124—He sings with His people of the marvelous escape that will be theirs—but He, more than any, will feel the snare closing on Him. He anticipates His escape, which will also mean our escape: “We have escaped!” He celebrates with us.

Psalm 126—The Messiah sings with His people, recalling the great things God has done, and praying with us for the final restoration of God’s kingdom, even as He goes out to sow the seed in tears.

Hear Him Sing to Us

Psalm 121—As He travels to Jerusalem, the Messiah turns to His disciples and sings about the one who will keep them, both in this life and forevermore. “He who watches over you.…” He is traveling to Jerusalem to do all that is necessary for us to enjoy this eternal keeping. Hear the assurance from His lips: “My Father, He will keep you.”

Psalm 122—He joys to go to Jerusalem, even if it is the place where judgment happens (v. 5). He goes for His brothers’ and companions’ sake, so that He can say, “Peace be within you.…I will seek your good.” I joyed to seek your good, your peace. You are My friends and My brothers.

I like to think of the next time the disciples were heading up to a feast, singing these familiar songs. Psalm by psalm it hits them as they remember the last time they sang them, and the voice that sang them in their midst as never before. Oh, how much richer those psalms would be to them. And now for us. Surely “the loveliest single group of psalms in the whole Psalter” just got a whole lot lovelier!