How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? (Psalm 137:4, NIV)
We’ve all been offered a happier perspective when our game goes afoul.
One double bogey typically earns a “that’s all right, you’ll get it back.”
A second brings “I noticed a little hitch in that swing. Take it back a more smoothly and I think you’ll like what happens.”
But then you turn another hole into disaster and this is what you get: “Well, it beats working.”
Honestly, I’m not so sure. At least when I’m working I get a sense of accomplishment. It’s hard to duplicate that feeling when you have no idea where the driver is going and you can’t make a putt.
This kind of despair had settled over the psalmist when he tried to offer up a song from the grip of captivity. God’s people in Babylon wanted to cheer each other up with the thought of going home to Jerusalem, but they couldn’t even convince their own hearts of such a happy hope let alone play skipping melodies for their “tormentors [who] demanded songs of joy.”
Babylon, the place of captivity. We read well when we infer this: “The place where our sins have sent us.”
We’ve all experienced it—the misery of a sin done to us.
And we’ve all committed it—the sin that harmed another and sent our soul descending with it.
In the midst of such wretchedness, what the psalmist could do was fight to remember. “If I forget you, O Jerusalem” he penned, “may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you.” Miserable as the refugees were, they clung to whatever glimpse of past joy they could find; in it rested their hope for tomorrow.
Are you entangled in sin’s pain and humility, far from the joy of salvation that once carried you on eagles’ wings? Fight to remember. See the love of Jesus, shed by his blood on the cross. Remember the promise of his grace. Keep that flicker alive and let it grow by his fueling. We are captives in this world, afflicted by our flesh and the wickedness of others. Our higher joy has not wavered, however. It gave all sacrifice in the past, dispenses all guidance in the present, and offers all assurance for the life to come.
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Jeff Hopper
August 20, 2013
Copyright 2013 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.