October 2023
Psalms 137:1-4 (KJV), “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, Yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
“We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
“For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion.’
“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”
One day while feeling a bit down, I opened my Bible and it fell open to Psalm 137. Although this particular Psalm has nine verses, it was the first four that caught my attention. Here we have a person who was in captivity in Babylon and had been returned to their homeland in Judah. This person was still haunted by the memories of being a prisoner and captive in a totally foreign land.
Although seemingly in what appears to be a beautiful place with flowing rivers and hanging willow trees, and perhaps even cool green grass to sit on, these people were miserable. Why?
They were miserable because their captors were requiring of them music, singing and mirth (happiness). They wanted from them singing and laughter wh ...
