Psalm 137

 Psalm 137

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept 

when we remembered Zion.

There on the poplars we hung our harps.  

For there our captors asked us for songs.

Our tormentors demanded songs of joy. 

They said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

HOW CAN WE SING SONGS OF THE LORD WHILE IN A FOREIGN LAND?

I sat with my Bible this morning and this Psalm showed up as I opened it.  I use the Bible app, so I’m not exactly sure how that happened.  But it struck me forcibly. The world of the Israelites, when they were slaves in Babylon, was not so very different from our world today.  I thought about that and put myself in this picture.  The words rang multiple bells.  As we read these phrases stand out to me.

“We remembered Zion.”  Today, we may remember the times God spoke to our hearts, the times when, unasked and unrecognized, His Holy Spirit comforted us every day and when our worries were only short lived. We remember a world, a life, filled with less ugliness, and less “in your face” disobedience to His will and His word.

We may remember a world that was less bombastic – a world that didn’t seem to be screaming at the top of its lungs,” Hear me!  Look at me! Imitate me!  Worship me!”

“We hung our harps.”  Maybe today we stopped the music of speaking His words, the beautiful music that came from the talent given to us by God.  We hung up our harps, out of reach.  We stopped, and when the culture asked us to write a song for them, we did not!

We are being asked to "sing a song of joy."  The world wants our joy, but in a strange voice.  “Sing a song of joy.” they say. They want God to bless their own song, not His song.  

How can we sing of The Lord while living in a foreign land?  We are citizens of God’s eternal kingdom, every other land is a foreign land, no matter how pleasant it might seem.  So yes, today we must sing the songs of our LORD in this world, in this foreign land.

How can we?  That’s the question.
We must and we can, but the song must be God’s song from God’s heart, from God’s word.  We can, only if we remember Zion.  If we remember God in His Glory.  If we remember God with His might and His strength, we can sing His song.

Psalm 137

They say 

sing a song in our presence and stay.

Sing joy from your hearts and then play evil’s song
in a wonderful, beautiful way.

Sing - praise to the sins of today.

“Sing a song filled with Joy” they will say

“Sing the song you sang loud on that day

when you were there near His presence

when you lived in His Kingdom.

Sing a song and bring blessings our way.”

But we hung up our harps we might say.

‘cause this world is so empty and grey 

that the song from our hearts could never be sung 

in a world that has traveled this way.

But there must be a way
to remember to sing

if God’s kingdom we claim,

if we honor His name

to sing in our joy, with the courage He’ll bring.

If we remember Zion’s beauty 

and know our welcome there,

if we see the picture of the sins
that we no longer bear - 

our greed, our envy, hate and pride

the dreadful things we could not hide,

then

we’ll sing the song of welcome 

to the sinner by our side

and

we’ll help them see a God
who loves each person there. 

Let’s pick up our harps and sing 

to God our Almighty King.

We’ll sing of THE TRUTH AND LOVE – 

who is

JESUS, sent from above.

We’ll play the tunes the angels wrote 

on clouds that God designed.

We’ll sing of Jesus Christ, the Precious Lamb, 

Savior Divine,