4 How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land? 5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
This is a song sang at Jewish festivals. When they would come from miles around to Jerusalem they would sing it. Why this Psalm? They could not help it nor forget this. It gave them an incentive to not repeat the biggest mistake in their history. The very heart, the very pain, and the bare realization of what they had done was here. Their misery and remorse over what they had done to God is spoken here. They had foolishly lost what they didn't have to lose. It was not just a song; it was a confession–the admittance of the mistakes they had made.
Imagine the nation of Israel after a long march from their homeland to Babylon. They were going there as prisoners. Among them were the young Shadrach, Meshach, Abegnego and Daniel. Without a real place to put them, King Nebuchadnezzar sent them to the banks of the Euphrates River. Here they were at the river banks, and with nothing else to do, they hung their harps on the willows and sat down. Israel didn't come to realize their mistake until they had to sit down; there was nowhere else to go, nothing else to do BUT SIT DOWN. Let's consider ourselves and our own spirituality as we look at this scripture.
They had it made. They were in their own land; it belonged to them. God was their God and He was God to them. Now the focus of their whole world changed. All other countries had failed in their takeovers of Israel. Even Babylon had failed once. But now we see them marched as slaves from what they, knew leaving their homes and their God behind. It came to this because of their weak and indifferent spirit toward the Lord. Here, gathered like cattle, they were brought from their River Jordan to the River Euphrates. They hung their harps on the willows and sat down. We need to careful of which waters we drink from.
They sat at the river looking into the capital city. They saw the strange architecture, the remains of the Tower of Babel and the Hanging Gardens, one of the seven wonders of the world. It was a mighty different look and a mighty different place than they were used to. Satan is after us. He wants us weak. He wants to take us where we don't belong and take our hearts captive. He wants us to sit down. The children of Israel had made their biggest mistake. They had no allies. They took God for granted. We too can sit down; we do so when we quit praying like we should, showing up at church like we should, and quit reading the scriptures like we should. This was to have been a daily thing with Israel. Has it gone from daily to weekly or longer for us?
The worst thing we can do is sit down on God. If we are sitting down in any way from our altars, our church, our praying, or our reading of the Word, watch out–the devil can take us captive. We'll find ourselves where we've never been and it is far worse than any Babylon. Away from God, He will have no choice but to sit us down as He did the people of Israel. They remembered and they wept, but it wasn't until now. Look at how often we sin, how often we don't study, how often we drive by the church and not give it a second thought, and how often we just don't pray. Soon there may be no place to go but the "Euphates" and sit down. God help us to realize where we are.
The soldiers required a song of the people. They arose from their sitting position; they must have knelt and prayed. They reached toward God and took their harps from the willows and sang. Do we need a confession? Have we sat down? Get up. Kneel down. Then raise our hands toward God.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 