Judah had been taken captive. Psalm 137 is a bitter Psalm written by a bitter Jew. They were captives far from home. They were far from the banks of the Jordan river, and were sitting down on the banks of the Tigris or the Euphrates when this was written. They were “weeping over joys departed.” Their harps were hung upon the weeping willows, and they had no intention of taking them down to sing a happy song (See Psalm 137:1-2). They asked,
4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song In a strange land?
Bitterness does that. It steals joy and robs us of praise. Did this Jew not have any songs? Sure, he had plenty. He could have sung Psalm 23, remembering his Shepherd, or Psalm 1, reminding himself to meditate day and night upon God and His promises. But that bitterness wouldn’t allow his heart to focus on God. Bitterness only cares about seeing the other person hurt just as bad as you do. He concluded his Psalm by saying, “Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou has served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.” (See Psalm 137:8-9).
He forgot that he was in Babylon because of the sins of Judah, perhaps even his own sins. Babylon would’ve never invaded Judah successfully if Judah had stayed faithful to God. Captivity in Babylon was the result of Judah’s failure and symbolic of the Prodigal Son of Luke 15, out in the far country away from the Father’s house. They were the ones to leave the Father. They were the ones who brought this upon themselves.
They had the opportunity to sing the praises of Jehovah to their heathen captives. They had an opportunity to glorify God, but instead, bitterness required revenge.
Is there any bitterness towards others or towards our circumstances that causes us to nurse our wounds? As the old saying goes, “Hurt people, hurt people.”
To answer the question the psalmist raised in Psalm 137:4, “How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land?” We must deal with whatever is causing us bitterness, stealing our joy, robbing our praise, and keeping us from ministering to the heathen around us. The psalmist thought that he had to be in Jerusalem to praise God. He had to be in perfect circumstances to praise God. His joy was directly rooted to his expectations and not to God’s sovereignty. Paul and Silas were beaten and put in stocks and imprisoned, but that didn’t stop their song. Its a matter of the heart.
How many Christians were on the right track: faithful to church, faithful to the Bible, and faithful to serve God before bitterness derailed them? If you invite them to church, the typical response will be, they hurt me. If we obeyed our Savior’s command through the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, bitterness wouldn’t be allowed to remain in our hearts.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
We would cry out to God to help us to be humble and tender toward others, even those who cause us hurt. We would accept at His hand that although our circumstances are not what we had hoped for, He has something better in mind. Bitterness just blinds us from that.
What this Jew didn’t see, is that God was dealing with Judah’s idolatry. They went to Babylon as idolaters, but came out without one idol. Some of the greatest books of the Bible came out of that 70 year period, Daniel being one of them, which prophesied of the very day their promised Messiah would enter the gates of Jerusalem to be presented as their King, and of His return to put down evil once and for all.
God can bring good out of our evils. He can turn our bitterness into joy, if we’ll only let Him.
17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: But thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
When There Is No Song
Judah had been taken captive. Psalm 137 is a bitter Psalm written by a bitter Jew. They were captives far from home. They were far from the banks of the Jordan river, and were sitting down on the banks of the Tigris or the Euphrates when this was written. They were “weeping over joys departed.” Their harps were hung upon the weeping willows, and they had no intention of taking them down to sing a happy song (See Psalm 137:1-2). They asked,
Psalm 137:4
4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song In a strange land?
Bitterness does that. It steals joy and robs us of praise. Did this Jew not have any songs? Sure, he had plenty. He could have sung Psalm 23, remembering his Shepherd, or Psalm 1, reminding himself to meditate day and night upon God and His promises. But that bitterness wouldn’t allow his heart to focus on God. Bitterness only cares about seeing the other person hurt just as bad as you do. He concluded his Psalm by saying, “Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou has served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.” (See Psalm 137:8-9).
He forgot that he was in Babylon because of the sins of Judah, perhaps even his own sins. Babylon would’ve never invaded Judah successfully if Judah had stayed faithful to God. Captivity in Babylon was the result of Judah’s failure and symbolic of the Prodigal Son of Luke 15, out in the far country away from the Father’s house. They were the ones to leave the Father. They were the ones who brought this upon themselves.
They had the opportunity to sing the praises of Jehovah to their heathen captives. They had an opportunity to glorify God, but instead, bitterness required revenge.
Is there any bitterness towards others or towards our circumstances that causes us to nurse our wounds? As the old saying goes, “Hurt people, hurt people.”
To answer the question the psalmist raised in Psalm 137:4, “How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land?” We must deal with whatever is causing us bitterness, stealing our joy, robbing our praise, and keeping us from ministering to the heathen around us. The psalmist thought that he had to be in Jerusalem to praise God. He had to be in perfect circumstances to praise God. His joy was directly rooted to his expectations and not to God’s sovereignty. Paul and Silas were beaten and put in stocks and imprisoned, but that didn’t stop their song. Its a matter of the heart.
How many Christians were on the right track: faithful to church, faithful to the Bible, and faithful to serve God before bitterness derailed them? If you invite them to church, the typical response will be, they hurt me. If we obeyed our Savior’s command through the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, bitterness wouldn’t be allowed to remain in our hearts.
Ephesians 4:31–32
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
We would cry out to God to help us to be humble and tender toward others, even those who cause us hurt. We would accept at His hand that although our circumstances are not what we had hoped for, He has something better in mind. Bitterness just blinds us from that.
What this Jew didn’t see, is that God was dealing with Judah’s idolatry. They went to Babylon as idolaters, but came out without one idol. Some of the greatest books of the Bible came out of that 70 year period, Daniel being one of them, which prophesied of the very day their promised Messiah would enter the gates of Jerusalem to be presented as their King, and of His return to put down evil once and for all.
God can bring good out of our evils. He can turn our bitterness into joy, if we’ll only let Him.
Isaiah 38:17
17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: But thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.