I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” All the tribes of Israel—the Lord’s people—make their pilgrimage here. They come to give thanks to the name of the Lord. Psalms 122:1,4a

 

Have you ever considered going on a pilgrimage?

 

It was unlike anything she’d ever done before. Diana got on a plane, flew to the other side of the world and headed up into the mountains. She pulled on her hiking boots and hiked and hiked, reading her Bible, praying and listening. As she walked in God’s pristine creation she left behind the shame of years of trauma. God met her with His love and guidance during what we might call a pilgrimage.

Pilgrimage is travel for the “purpose of meeting and experiencing God with hopes of being shaped and changed by that encounter,” writes Jill Webber. “Pilgrimages are often concretely physical—journeying to a particular place, perhaps with some extraordinary expense and exertion—and spiritual—one hopes to meet God in this travel… They richly symbolize the fact that our lives are to be a journey with and to God.”[1]

In Bible times, God’s people would make a yearly pilgrimage of thanksgiving to Jerusalem. The Psalm writer, David, said, “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” All the tribes of Israel—the Lord’s people—make their pilgrimage here. They come to give thanks to the name of the Lord” (Psalms 122:1,4a).

Is there an issue in your life you’ve been struggling with? Do you need guidance for making an important decision? Or have you received a long-prayed for blessing. Taking the time to make a pilgrimage to meet with God somewhere other than where you are right now, can be a life-changing time of communion with the God Who loves you with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3).

[1] Weber, Jill. Even the Sparrow: A Pilgrim’s Guide to Prayer, Trust and Following the Leader, Muddy Pearl, Edinburgh, 2019, pp. 155-156.