12/7/11 By The Rivers Of Babylon
By The Rivers Of Babylon
Psalm 137:1-9 December 7, 2011
Key Verse: 137:1 Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF
“1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.”
Dear Lord, thank you for your grace today in helping me to get an all clear in my exam. How relieving. But I pray for those who do not get an “all clear” that you may strengthen them to bear up under trials ahead of them by the power of God. Lord, I pray that this Christmas may be a time of worship and celebration for all that Jesus has done for us. I pray that we may introduce students to come and hear the gospel and come to Jesus. I pray also for the co-hort group that we may grow in true Christian unity and promote this unity in our own sphere of influence. Thank you for these devotions in Psalms. May you draw me close to you through them. I thank you and I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!
1. We remembered Zion (1-6).
Verses 1-6, “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. 6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.”
The Israelites were in exile in Babylon for their sins against God. They sat by the rivers of Babylon and wept in repentance. They remembered their joyful life in Zion, praising God with harps. When the captors asked them to sing one of the songs of Zion for their entertainment, they refused to sing by hanging their harps on the poplars. Still, they never wanted to forget Jerusalem and their skill in singing for God’s glory there. They put hope in God in their distress.
They longed for Zion and a return to Jerusalem as we long for our return to the kingdom of God. While we are in the body our hearts long to leave this world and be with the Lord and dwell in the kingdom of God where there are is no more pain or sorrow or heartache, but only dwelling joyfully in the love of God. What a place it will be! Until we are there it is like we are living in exile as holy pilgrims, just passing through. I thank God for the longing for my eternal home. As I get older I don’t have to cling to this jar of clay of a body. I don’t have to despair about sickness and weakness and old age. It is a l prelude for the glorious entrance into the streets of pearl and shining gold. Jesus and his Gospel has saved me from so much pain and despair about the passing of time though faith in the gospel.
2. Remember, O Lord (7-9).
Psalm 7-9 reads, “7 Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!” 8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us. 9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.”
The psalmist could not do anything, but he could repent and pray for God to exercise his justice against the Edomites and the Babylonians according to what they had done to Israel.
The psalmist was in agony. How would you feel if someone grabbed your children by the feet and smashed them against the wall and then wanted to tear down your entire home and burn it to the ground and then force you to live as a refugee in a foreign country? The psalmist was angry and rightly so.
But in the new testament, we need to forgive, even if forgiveness is very, very hard. We need to find it in my heart to forgive. I need to forgive all those whom I perceive as harming me. For some it is not easy to forgive. I just don’t want to see them again. But I need to forgive. I probably hurt myself most if I do not forgive. I hurts God because God forgave me of all my heinous sins against him and others. He forgave me and I must forgive others completely or else I am an unmerciful servant.
I will leave all justice up to God. Judgment is mine saith the Lord. We are not the judge, God is. He will deal with people in his way and in his time. That doesn’t mean that people should not have to face the laws of the land. But it means that I should trust God and concentrate more on loving others than on condemning them and getting vengeance on them. Lord, give me strength to do this.
Prayer: Help us, O Lord, to remember you in times of distress. Help us not to take revenge, but trust in you.
One Word: Place all of my hope in the Kingdom of God
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