Psalm 137
Psalm 137
is a great psalm with an incredible truth, although I do admit to feeling my
emotions torn about the final verse. I
always am torn when I get to that verse.
For me, it is one of the hardest verses in the Bible to reconcile. But I’ll get to that in a bit.
The part
of this psalm that I really love is verse 4.
“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” That verse completely and totally struck me
today as I pulled it out of the context in which it was written and thrust it
into the context of Christianity. Does
Jesus tell us that we are not of this world?
Are we not spiritual sojourners in this fleshly world?
There are
days where I feel exactly where this psalmist finds himself. There are days when I long for deep talks
about faith on the back porch of my house.
There are days when I crave having a social conversation about Jesus
Christ and what He is doing in our lives over coffee or tea. There are days when I absolutely yearn for
that phone call where someone says, “Can I ask you a question?” These kinds of longings are frequent. I desperately long to be in the spiritual land
of my Lord instead of being in the fleshly land of this world. There are days when I say to myself, “How can
I possible sing for joy while being a part of a world that so openly turns its
back upon God?”
And then I
wonder how many people are out there who feel as I do? I’m guessing it’s more than I think.
And then I
wonder if so many people out there are longing for those experiences, what
keeps us from having them together?
And then I
wonder about those days where I am so caught up in the world that I don’t give
much thought to God. What’s wrong with
me on those days?
And then I
think about those days where I am so close to God and so distant from this
world that I cannot help but sing!
Human
beings are certainly complex, I’ll say that.
But today I think I’m going to reflect some more on how the psalmist
must have felt trapped in a strange land and told to sing songs of joy. I really think there is value in
understanding that mentality as it pertains to my citizenship in the kingdom of
God as well as the kingdom of this world.
Now for
the last verse of this psalm. Yes, the
psalmist literally does say that the person who comes along and throws the
babies of the Babylonians against the rocks is a blessed person. It is so easy to hear that and think, “What a
horrible statement! How can that be in
the Bible?” It’s so easy to want to rip
that statement out of the Bible and say it doesn’t exist.
However,
remember that this psalm is written while the psalmist is in exile in
Babylon. He’s watched the Babylonians
grab the Hebrew babies and throw them against rocks so that they would
die. The psalmist has watched his
beloved people be separated from one another.
He’s watched his people be marched off into exile. While I cannot condone murder of any kind in
any fashion, I can understand how the human heart would reach this point after
experiencing that much trauma.
While I do
not believe that God condones such behavior, I do believe that what we see in
this passage is an emotion within humanity that is certainly present and
capable of being brought out. I think it
is good for us as human beings to look at this text and think about what kind
of life it would take for us to bring about such a reaction. If nothing else, it is good for us to look at
these closing verses and give glory to God for blessing us and enabling us to
not have to endure the experiences that others have had to experience. It is also good for us to be humbled and
realize that we are then called to pray for those who are living such a life
and honestly support them in our prayers.
Psalm 138
Psalm 138
brings to us another Psalm of David.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a Psalm of David. But did you notice the immediate shift in the
tenor of the psalm? This psalm was about
God. This psalm focused on God’s hand in
our life. This psalm is concerned about
the nature of God.
Specifically,
as I read this psalm I focused on the nature of God that is brought out in
verse 6. Though the Lord is high, He
knows the lowly. There is nobody higher
than the Lord. In fact, the Hebrew word
used for God can mean “elevated” and “exalted.”
Who is exalted more than God?
Nobody!
Yet it is
the lowly to whom He is visible. The
Hebrew word that is used in this verse can also be translated as “humble.” The Lord is exalted, and He is seen by the
humble. The Lord makes an effort to know
the people who do not think more of themselves than they should. The Lord knows those people who recognize
their character and recognize the need to make room for God in their life!
Also note
that the Lord knows other people from afar.
I really like the translation of “acknowledges from a distance.” I get an idea of two people staring at each
other from across the room and giving each other slight and distant nods. They don’t communicate. They don’t really even want to know one
another. But they acknowledge each
other’s presence as if to acknowledge the fact that there is no relationship
between them.
Who are
these people that God acknowledges from a distance? The haughty.
The proud. The boastful. The self-monger. The people who are so wrapped up in their own
life that they don’t have time for God.
God acknowledges them from a distance, but the personal and intimate
relationship is simply not there.
What more
reason do we need to be humble this day that Psalm 138:6?
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