How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song?

 

Psalm 137: 1-9

 

December 1, 2022

 

How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song?

By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept
when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres.  For there, our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?  If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!  Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!  Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!”  O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!  Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

 

You nor I can imagine being taken in captivity by a foreign nation.  Being forced to sing God Bless America, to eat food that we would not feed to our pets, and to be slaves.  Yes, our minds would dwell on the land we came from its abundance and its freedom.  This line jumps off the page at me; “Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!”

 

All of us who have entered into a personal relationship, by faith and grace that God has given us, should that relationship with God's Son be our highest joy?  The Church is not a denomination or a building but a body of people who have entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Sadly, I feel the need to explain what is the Church, but we live in a time where many believe it is a building.  

 

We have Jesus telling us in Matthew 18:19-20, “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.  For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”  Have you decided you do not need to assemble with a body of believers in that it is more comfortable to sit with your coffee on the couch and watch the sermon?  A couple of big problems, that not being part of a body of Believers, and violating Scripture. Hebrews 10:24-25, “ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

 

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Mt 6:33).  If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Col 3:1).  “And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Heb 11:6).

Those verses on seeking God or from the New Testament but what does the Old Testament tell us about seeking; “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me” (Proverbs 8:17).  Could we the Church have a diligent problem?  My reason for wondering about this is a Scripture that is often quoted by Christians; “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chr 7:14).  Yes, I believe you and I have a diligent issue.

We have received grace, and we have the Spirit of Jesus Christ living in us, so unlike the Psalmist, we should never desire, this for our enemies.  ”  O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!  Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!  Our Lord has been obvious in our actions; Matthew 5:43-45, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”  Way too many who go by the title Christian, sound more like the Psalmist than like Jesus.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice