Psalm 137
English: Jerusalem, Dome of the rock, in the background the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Deutsch: Jerusalem, Felsendom, im Hintergrund die Grabeskirche (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
1 Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept
as we thought of Jerusalem.t2 We put away our harps,
hanging them on the branches of poplar trees.3 For our captors demanded a song from us.
Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn:
“Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!”4 But how can we sing the songs of the LORD
while in a pagan land?5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget how to play the harp.6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I fail to remember you. (NLT)
“O Jerusalem,O Jerusalem”! While at home,Jerusalem represents home. Yes while at home we’re so busy sending text messages and emails until we barely speak to each other. Then there’s the time we must spend on Facebook and Google Plus,we’re just so busy. Then of course there is our smart phones,oh mercy if you don’t have one,you just feel out of the loop. Oh let’s not forget Twitter,I mean if you’re not Tweeting you’re really out of sync with today’s way of doing things. It’s really so easy to forget what’s important,when you’re so busy doing so much. At first we just start missing our time in the word,then we look up and we’re missing more and more time in Church. We hardly have any time for Bible study,we’re so busy doing things our way. I mean it gets to the point where we’ve really pushed God out of our lives,it happens slowly,so we barely even notice we’ve slipped away from a wonderful closeness to God. God is so good and He allows us to enjoy much,but when you look around like the children of Israel and see how far you’ve fallen,what then? The children of Israel were lamenting over the good they enjoyed at home,now that there sinfulness had caught up with them. We cannot forget God and think that there will be no consequences or repercussions,because sin carries its own punishment . Here they find themselves sitting by the rivers weeping,being tormented by their captors! It has to be hard,being dragged off to a foreign country leaving your comfort zone behind. Their captors demanded a song,the good old songs you sang at home. But there was no singing going on now,but even in a hard and difficult place,we can sing. Especially when we remember to whom we belong,repent and turn back to God. Let’s listen and pay attention so that we recognize God’s voice,before we get into Babylon.
Love in Christ Pat
