March 12, 2015: Psalm 137:1-6

We encourage you to read this devotion three times a day.  Start in the morning and reflect upon the morning reflection question. Then in the afternoon, read it again and reflect using the noon question for reflection.  For the evening, take time to ponder how this has resonated with you in the day and reflecting using the evening question.  We offer a prayer with each devotion for you to pray or we invite you to pray what is in your heart.

Psalm 137:1-6

New Living Translation (NLT)

1 Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept

 as we thought of Jerusalem.[a] 2 We put away our harps,

hanging them on the branches of poplar trees.

3 For our captors demanded a song from us.

Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn:

 “Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem!”

4 But how can we sing the songs of the Lord

while in a pagan land?

5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand forget how to play the harp.

6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth

  if I fail to remember you,  if I don’t make Jerusalem my greatest joy

Reflection:

God is with us in the good times and the bad. This was certainly a low point for the people of Isreal. They had been defeated in battle by the Babylonians and carried away to live in exile and servitude. They conquers tormented and heckled them asking for songs of joy. The torments came from a sense of how the Babylonians understood gods. They thought that the people that worshipped the greatest god would always win in battle because their god would deliver them. It was almost a genie in a bottle, they would worship their gods because they wanted things from their gods. That is not the type of relationship God, the Father, offers us through Christ. It isn’t a sign up, sing a song and never have troubles again type of relationship. God does offer, and offered the Isrealite, the promise of hope and redemption. The promise that no matter how bad it looks now, and I am not sure it can look much worse than conquest and servitude, it will not be the end of the story. God will redeem God’s people, and we are God’s people

Reflection Questions:

Morning: Are there any areas of your life in need of redemption today?

Afternoon: How have you seen God work through the good and bad of your day so far?

Evening: Are you now or have you ever felt like you were in captivity? What does the thought of redemption mean to you?

Prayer: Holy God, Lord of the good and bad days. You have created us and will redeem us. We are your children when things are going well and poorly. Help us to always remember you and the promise of redemption to come just as the Israelites struggled to remember you and the promise of redemption in Jerusalem.