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Sadness and Anger in a Song?
From Psalm 137:1 By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion. 2On the willows there we hung up our harps. 3 For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" 4 How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither! 6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy. 7 Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem's fall, how they said, "Tear it down! Tear it down! Down to its foundations!" 8 O daughter Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! 9 Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!
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In one of my churches years ago, there was a dear sweet man, whose smile and warmth blessed me each Sunday. He was a faithful usher and greeter to all who would come and worship with us. His face showed the years he spent in the sun and I often wondered about his life until one day a daughter of his worshiped with us and shared with me a story that he preferred to keep to himself. He was captured during World War II by the Japanese and kept in a POW camp where he was forced into hard labor. He lost a part of his ear to the ravages of the sun, but still that smile in the present did not reflect what must have been hell on earth for him in those years. I imagine he could have easily sung the song that is Psalm 137; yet I doubt if he could have added the anger found towards the end of that song.
I have often found myself away from home but never, thank God, against my will or as a captive of war. Never tormented and teased by a captor (my friends on Facebook are enough, thank you) or guard. I know what it is to be homesick and yes, I have cried when I have moved from one home to another. My first year in college was especially hard for me, but it was part of growing up. This psalm is a song of distress by one who remembered as we say, "better days." Forced to leave Zion to Babylon, these wept by the rivers of Babylon, choosing to hang up their harps instead of singing songs from home, even to the point of asking, "How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?" Yesterday, a dear pastor brother and colleague shared how his doctor would sing before, during and after his surgeries, "Amazing Grace." This pastor was on a gurney awaiting surgery when he heard a beautiful voice singing that precious song. "Who's that?" this pastor asked the nurse; "That's your surgeon; he always sings before and during surgery." A calm assurance came over his spirit. After the surgery he asked the doctor why he sang, and he gave his testimony. Then they sang together, yes, even after surgery. In his followup visit, they sang again. Sometimes it is hard to sing.
The psalmist recording this is part of a group carried off by captors. Their faithlessness and rebellion against God allowed the Edomites to take them against their will, still their anger against the captors is shown in the final verses. Anger to the point of saying what now to us seems a terrible thing, "Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!" Yes, anger to that point, but nonetheless wrong. We should be angry at ourselves if we let our faith slip away as we pursue passion and pleasure instead of purpose and the plan of God for our lives.
PRAYER: Loving God, for those homesick this day, bring comfort. For those who are being held against their will, bring freedom. For those slipping quietly away from faith, bring them back. For those angry at others for things they have chosen for themselves bring them to their senses and instill Your spirit of forgiveness. This we pray in Christ Jesus' name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde -----------
With respect to blackberry phones, these have certain settings that will need to be turned on/edited in order for HTML emails to appear on them correctly. These can be setup by those subscribers by navigating to their blackberry settigs >> email preferences. They will want to enable HTML email. This article (although not one of ours) discusses this in full detail if you would like to check it out:
http://docs.blackberry.com/en/smartphone_users/deliverables/38289/1848476.jsp
