Day 850: Psalm 137- Worship From Raw Wounds

By the waters of Babylon,
    there we sat down and wept,
    when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows there
    we hung up our lyres.
3 For there our captors
    required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
4 How shall we sing the Lord's song
    in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    let my right hand forget its skill!
6 Let my tongue stick 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,
how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare,
    down to its foundations!”
8 O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
    blessed shall he be who repays you
    with what you have done to us!
9 Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
    and dashes them against the rock!
 
Meditation
Scripture offers words to worship in a world of pain and problems. God desires for us to engage relationship from the deepest places of our soul, exemplified by including this outcry from exile.
 
Today’s Psalm is “alive with pain” that intensifies toward an appalling climax. Captives forced to sing in a foreign land (1-3) attempt to remember their homeland (4-6) as they pray condemnation on their enemies (7-9). They sadly celebrated and wanted dark revenge (8-9), this is a pagan claim of victory (see Isaiah 13:16; Hosea 10:14) adapted by Israel, displaying the misplaced hope of their hearts).
 
As recorded in Job, Jeremiah, and Jesus, the suffering of the saints is real. We live in a fallen world with dark powers, sickness, death, injustice, and abuse. The blunt impact should awaken honesty with our own pain. The raw wounds of the Psalm do not offer easy answers, but an example of taking our pain to God in worship and finding conviction for our bent towards vengeance.
 
When we worship Jesus from our wounds, we find a new way of living in a broken and bruised world. The cross of Christ changes everything as we remember Jesus Christ going into exile, suffering on our behalf.  By faith we are welcome into God’s secure and steadfast love. Jesus took the judgement we deserve so that we can love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, and forgive.
 
Richly Dwelling
-Which part of the Psalm is the most difficult to swallow?
 
-Where do you see your propensity towards vengeance exposed?
 
-How does the cross move our hearts from vengeance to love, retribution to reconciliation? Where do you need to practice this in your life?
 
Key verse
4 How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?