Wednesday, July 23, 2014

A Strange Land

Psalm 137 English Standard Version (ESV)
137 
By the waters of Babylon,
    there we sat down and wept,
    when we remembered Zion.
On the willows[a] 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!

Have you ever found yourself somewhere that you didn’t want to be?  In this case they had been captured and taken from their homeland.  Not many of us have found ourselves in that situation yet I am sure there are times that we have felt like strangers in a foreign land.  In fact, we are to be aliens to this world, this should not be considered our home, yet we are to live here and speak God’s truths.  These men were asked to sing the Lord’s songs, they should have been glad to do so, yet theses were their enemies, why would they want them to hear of God’s goodness. 

As we journey in this life we need to remember that our future is not here.  We need to feel a little uncomfortable in the strange land but we need to always sing God’s praises to strangers and to our enemies.  As we remember yesterday, God’s steadfast love endures forever.  Now that is something to sing about!

As you seek Him may you find Him as He watches over you and takes care of you in this strange land.

Seeking Him with all my heart,


Sheila

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