How Can We Sing the Lord's Song?

IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

How Can We Sing the Lord's Song?

Date: Dec. 7, 2016

Passage

Psalm 137:1-9 (ESV)

1   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!

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Daily Bread

Key Verse: 137:4

How shall we sing the LORD’s song
in a foreign land?

First, we remember Zion (1-4). The Jews were carried off to Babylon to live there in exile for 70 years. This was God's discipline for their unfaithfulness. It was a sorrowful time. They knew they had sinned; they longed for home. Their Babylonian captors were superficial, proud and bent on pleasure-seeking. They enjoyed listening to the singing of the Israelite captives. But the exiles had no song in their hearts, for they were far from home and God seemed far away. Their highest joy was remembering Jerusalem and the temple in its glory.

Second, remember, O Lord (5-9). They could not sing; they could not retaliate; but they could pray. Their prayer sounds bitter and cruel--and indeed it was. It was very different from Jesus' prayer from the cross, "Father, forgive them..." But it was real--they laid their feelings before God. Their hope was in God alone.

Prayer: Lord, cleanse me of sin and rule my heart so that I can sing your songs during my earthly pilgrimage.

One Word: Sing the Lord's song

Rebekah’s Decision of Faith

Genesis 24:50-67

Key Verse: 24:58

And they called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.”

Today's Question

How is Christ our redeemer?

See answer and references