How Good and Pleasant It Could Be!

By David Faust

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”  
(Psalm 133:1, New King James Version). 

“Behold!” That word reaches out and grabs you by the shirt collar.  

Behold the beauty of unity! Stand back and admire it the way you gaze at the stars on a summer night. Dream about unity. Admire it the way a groom beholds the face of his bride. 

Unity Is Good and Pleasant 

It’s “good” because the Lord desires it, and it’s “pleasant” when you experience it. Have you ever walked into a gathering of God’s people where the atmosphere was filled with peace and harmony? Or have you gone to church and felt tension in the air? There’s nothing pleasant about that.   

Christian unity even has a positive impact on non-Christians. It hinders evangelism and creates confusion when churches are filled with division and unresolved conflict, but unity is winsome and appealing. 

Jesus prayed that his followers would “be brought to complete unity” so the world would know the truth about him (John 17:23, New International Version). Paul urged believers to be “like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind” (Philippians 2:2). But let’s be honest . . . 

Unity Is Messy 

Psalm 133 says unity “is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe” (v. 2, New International Version). What a mess! Who wants oil dripping over your head, soaking your face and staining your clothes?  

In Exodus chapter 30, God gave Moses a special recipe perfumers used to make a sacred, sweet-smelling oil for anointing priests like Aaron and his sons. The high priest bore on his breastplate the names of all 12 tribes of Israel, so when the anointing oil poured over his body, it symbolically flowed down over all the people of God. 

That special anointing oil smelled good, for it was made with fragrant cane, cinnamon, and other spices. Because all Christians belong to God’s “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9-10), it’s a sweet-smelling aroma when we serve Christ shoulder to shoulder. Christian unity is a breath of fresh air in a badly divided world.  

But unity is messy because:  

• It requires commitment to Christ above organizational loyalties.   
• It requires prioritizing biblical principles above our traditions and preferences. 
• It requires humility, honest confrontation, and creative problem-solving—“speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15).  
• It requires accepting one another in Christ despite our differences over minor matters (see Romans chapter 14).   

Then Psalm 133 highlights another fact. 

Unity Brings God’s Blessing  

“It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord  

bestows his blessing, even life forevermore” (Psalm 133:3).  

Unity is like cool refreshing dew on a summer morning. Mount Hermon is over 9,000 feet tall. It’s the mountain where the Jordan River begins, where the headwaters of the river start to flow. Like refreshing water from the mountain, unity starts at the top and flows down to us from the Head of the church. We don’t create it; the Lord does. We recognize, preserve, and maintain it. And there in his united body, “the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.”  

Are there blessings we haven’t experienced because the church has been so divided?  Are there blessings God chooses to withhold until we get our act together? How good and pleasant it could be—but we still have a big hill to climb.  

Let’s climb it together.  

This is the sixth in a series of articles based on selected verses from the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134). 

David Faust serves as contributing editor of Christian Standard and senior associate minister with East 91^st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the author of 1 & 2 Thessalonians: Unquenchable Faith.