Continuing with the theme of ascending, I find this verse especially striking in the context we’re exploring. The very first request in this song is for deliverance from liars and deceitful people. I think most of us have been in situations where something was said about us that wasn’t true—or where we were deceived, manipulated, or misunderstood.
But if I’m being honest, I can also think of times when I’ve been the one who deceived or misled someone else. In fact, when I reflect on it, there are more examples coming to mind of my own failures than of how others have wronged me.
And yet, through it all, I keep thinking of Jesus—who suffered at the hands of liars and deceivers in the very city these pilgrims were ascending toward. Jesus likely made this journey to Jerusalem many times, both with His family as a boy and later with His disciples. He would have known these psalms by heart. He probably sang this very song on His way toward the Holy City.
Did He think of the religious leaders who would twist His words? Of Judas, who would betray Him with a kiss? Of the false witnesses who would accuse Him?
He may have also been thinking of us—those who would follow Him generations later. Jesus didn’t just face deceit and betrayal; He entered fully into the human experience, knowing what it meant to suffer, to be falsely accused, to feel alone. And then—He took the death we all deserved, so that we could be rescued, not just for a moment, but for all time.