# 17 2022 Dev. Psalm 137:4. Captives! Read all of Psalm 137 first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s story. How will it affect your story? All passages are taken from the NIV.
Psalm 137:4 “How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?”
Intro. Ps. 120-137 is a series of Psalms that include 15 “songs of ascents.” Songs of ascents were sung at the temple by the Priests walking up the 15 steps entering the sanctuary, also sung by pilgrims going up to Jerusalem for the three feasts required, Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles, as well as during the return from Babylon back to Jerusalem. Ps’. of ascents ended with Ps.134.
Psalm 137 Is a lament, a complaint, about captivity of their own making. It is a three stanza Psalm, rededicating themselves to God and the place of worship of their God, Jerusalem. Can we identify with this lament? We have separated ourselves from God in many ways: we have failed to keep God’s precepts, we have not loved Him or others as we should, we have not completely depended on Him. God wants to bring us back to Himself, as He brought back His people so long ago.
Vs.1-3 “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remember Zion.” They remembered what they had lost, they understood that there was no way back. O, how we remember our freedom, before the problems of life set in: the addictions the broken relationships, the time lost, the missed opportunities! There is no way back.
Vs.4-6 “How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” They were not to forget what they had lost, they were to pine after the worship lost, desire it, like life itself. This was an extreme event in the life of God’s people, something they were not likely to forget. Some of us are in a foreign place in our lives, not how we grew up, not like we ever imagined, not what we wanted, but here we are! There is a way out!
Vs.7-9 “Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell.” Remember, Lord, when we were lead astray, the day we became captive to sin, to the ways of the world. Rescue us, Lord, set us free, forgive us as you did your people long ago. “Put us on the rock that is higher than us” (Ps.61:1-5). Thank you Lord Jesus, for bringing us out of the captivity of our mistakes, out of the captivity of our self-will and into the peace of trusting you alone and placing us into your Kingdom now and for evermore, thanks be to God!
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