How Can We Sing the Lord’s Song?
That is the question God’s people asked as they sat on the banks of the Euphrates River, having been carried into captivity by the Babylonian people. It was their sins that took them there. God had tried over and over again to get His people to repent. He sent them prophet after prophet. He withdrew His blessings and sent curses. Yet the hard-headed and hard-hearted Israelites persisted in their sin.
Some, we do not know how many, tried to be faithful in a perverted land. But a minority holds little power. The remnant were carried into captivity as well. Just like Moses and Joshua and Caleb who believed Israel could and should conquer Canaan (Numbers 13-14), yet they were punished with forty years of wandering in the wilderness along with the unfaithful and disobedient. Sometimes the faithful suffer for the sins of the unfaithful.
So Israel was uprooted from her land, her homes, her vineyards, her gardens, her flocks; most worrisome for them was that they were separated from their temple. The dwelling place of God. The location of meeting between the God of heaven and His people.
So Israel sat on the banks of the Euphrates and wept. They hung their harps on the branches of the willows – for why should they sing? The Babylonians mocked the Israelites because the captivity proved that Ashur of Babylon was stronger than Jehovah of Israel. They taunted the Jews: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” (Psalm 137:3).
And the author laments, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (vs 4).
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How can you sing the Lord’s song in that environment? First, don’t forget Who God is. In the exiles’ mind, they were to remember Jerusalem (vs 6). It was the city of the King. Remember Who God is. Second, remember that God is a God of justice (vs 7). He will always do what is right. As a matter of God’s justice, He is also one of vengeance (vss 8-9).
We should be careful how we think and feel about those who have wronged us. The wiseman said, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles” (Prov. 24:17).
Yet, it is also true that God will punish those who break up marriages (Rom. 1:31). He will punish employers who fail to respect their employees (Eph. 6:9). God will also punish Satan, the agent of all evil, and death, the ultimate tool of the Deceiver (Rev. 20:10, 14). Even that chronic pain will eventually be destroyed (Phil. 3:21).
How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? David gives an answer to that question in Psalm 138:8: “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting; Do not forsake the works of your hands.”
Paul Holland
