Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / October 25 - Psalm 137

Transcript

October 25 - Psalm 137 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:11
  Hello friends, it's Sean here Friday.
• 0:15
  Well done, you've made it to the end of the week.
• 0:17
  It's the 25th of October. Oh, and here we are.
• 0:21
  And we get to read a Psalm together this morning to
• 0:24
  celebrate the end of the week. And we are doing a little bit of
• 0:29
  time travel here as we have just been reading the story of
• 0:34
  Nehemiah once the Babylonian exile is finished and they've
• 0:37
  headed back to Jerusalem. And here in today's Psalm, in
• 0:42
  Psalm 137, we go back in time a couple of generations, and we
• 0:48
  find them landed freshly on these foreign shores of Babylon
• 0:54
  where their hearts are broken and they've just been taken from
• 0:58
  their land by who they perceive as these evil Babylonians who
• 1:02
  have taken away God's people. And so in this Psalm, they will
• 1:06
  cry out, cry out for themselves and against Babylon for what
• 1:11
  they have done. And it ends with some pretty
• 1:14
  graphic language about killing babies.
• 1:16
  But this is not a literal wish for vengeance that involves, you
• 1:22
  know, what it actually says in these verses.
• 1:24
  But that is just the wish that God would bring complete
• 1:28
  destruction against these people who have rendered such great
• 1:32
  damage to God's people in God's city.
• 1:36
  So it's figurative, folks. Don't be distressed when you
• 1:38
  hear that language. So come with me back to this
• 1:43
  people exiled far from home on these foreign shores, and still,
• 1:49
  still you will hear their hope that they will be restored by
• 1:54
  their gods, so they will hold on to what they know to be true and
• 1:58
  where they know their home is. As we read together Psalm 137,
• 2:13
  beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of
• 2:20
  Jerusalem. We put away our harps, hanging
• 2:25
  them on the branches of Poplar trees, for our captors demanded
• 2:30
  a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a
• 2:34
  joyful hymn. Sing us one of those songs of
• 2:39
  Jerusalem. But how can we sing the songs of
• 2:44
  the Lord while in a Pagan land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
• 2:51
  let my right hand forget how to play the harp.
• 2:55
  May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth.
• 2:58
  If I fail to remember you, if I don't make Jerusalem my greatest
• 3:03
  joy. Oh Lord, remember what the
• 3:07
  Edomites did on the day the armies of Babylon captured
• 3:12
  Jerusalem. Destroy it, they yelled.
• 3:15
  Level it to the ground. Oh, Babylon, you will be
• 3:20
  destroyed. Happy is the one who pays you
• 3:24
  back for what you have done to us.
• 3:28
  Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against
• 3:32
  the rocks. Our Lord, we too can feel like
• 3:45
  we are far from where we ought to be, exiled from where we had
• 3:50
  hoped or where our comfort is. Our Lord, I pray that at those
• 3:58
  times when our tormentors are demanding that we sing songs to
• 4:03
  them and they're expecting us to be happy about the things that
• 4:07
  are going on around us or just accept them, Our Lord, and our
• 4:10
  heart is breaking. Help us come before You knowing
• 4:15
  that it is you that will restore things to what they should be,
• 4:21
  that it is you who has ultimately won victory for us,
• 4:26
  and that it is You who holds all of time and space and humanity
• 4:33
  and eternity in the palm of your hand.
• 4:38
  You are a glorious and majestic God, so much bigger than we
• 4:42
  could possibly fathom, and we stand humbly before you, Lord.
• 4:47
  And when we don't understand what's going on and we don't
• 4:50
  understand the reasons why, our Lord, give us your peace even
• 4:57
  when exiled, to know that you still rule even when it doesn't
• 5:02
  make any sense. But more than that, as we have
• 5:06
  been reading this week, that one day you do restore us back to
• 5:09
  that promised land. And not just to a rebuilt city
• 5:13
  there in a broken world, but to a rebuilt city of perfection
• 5:19
  where you will live with us forever.
• 5:23
  Ah, we thank you for your love and your plan and your
• 5:26
  redemption of us and your warm and loving embrace that will
• 5:31
  wipe all tears from our eyes. You are a good, good God and we
• 5:37
  are your grateful children. We love you when we pray all of
• 5:42
  this in the name of Jesus, Amen.