Monday, October 7, 2019
Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem. We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees. For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn: “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!” But how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a pagan land? Psalm 137:1-4
It’s strangely perplexing when someone
reacts to news in just the opposite way you’d expect. A person hears that a friend just got a
promotion and bursts into tears. Another
gets the news that her uncle just died and tries to stifle the smile. What gives with our emotions and bad or good
news?
The Psalmist is a case in point. The mood of Israel after being run over by
the Babylonian armies was sullen. The
enemy had killed every person who was a perceived threat, looting the temple, crippling
the peoples’ spirit, and destroying any hope of ever returning to the days of
David’s grandeur. On top of it all the
residents of Jerusalem had been relocated to Babylon where their captives could
keep an eye on them. They were rubbing
salt in the wound by forcing the captives to sing them a happy little ditty. Call me cynical, but how can you sing If
you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands with a smile on your face
when your heart’s been squeezed like a lemon and crushed like a peanut shell
under an elephant’s foot? The Israelites
were weeping over the loss of their homeland, their Promised Land, their lives…and
the Babylonian dogs were goading them to sing them a merry tune! Some things are just too much!
At times I think I know just how the
ancient people of God must’ve felt. The
land which I call home has been captured by a spirit of division, anger, crude perversion
and deceit. To say we live in troubling
times is to understate the obvious by a country mile. It is impossible to recount the sordid details
of just how far twenty-first century culture has dipped into the morass of the
Days of Noah, but suffice to say if God had not promised to never again destroy
the earth because of the wickedness of man, the only climate change I would be
looking for is the thunderclouds warming up for a 40-day monsoon.
And still, there is a prophetic cloud hanging
over the sinfulness of America’s godlessness; there is coming a time when God
will recompense evil with a sweeping, righteous judgment; no one will be able
to stand in that day.
So, where is the joy in all this musing
about the evil in our day, and the coming judgment that will push the souls of
evildoers eternally into the abyss? Is
it just that the worm is going to turn, and those who truly worship God will
get to play Babylon, and torture those who now are in power?
In a word…hardly! The joy is in knowing that the troubling
times in which we live is (to those of faith) testimony that God’s Word is
true, and He is without question moving the timeline of history along to God’s
inevitable conclusion. We now live in a
post-modern, post-Christian culture. For
those who trust in Christ it is a test of faith that burns away the dross of unbelief. In short, when God allows darkness, it is a
certain proof that His light is patient, unwilling to summarily judge the
wicked before giving them every chance to repent. But someday that darkness will be surrounded and
snuffed-out forever by the light of God’s goodness and righteousness.
For You Today
The time will arrive soon
enough for the judgment; this day let the apostle James help us understand what
these troubled times are forming in our souls:
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1:2-4
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