Sunday Scripture

 

As I mentioned last Sunday, I'm finishing up a One Chapter a Day study of Psalms 101-150 from Good Morning Girls.  Although I love working on more in-depth Bible studies, these simpler ones are also a blessing to do.  In fact, once I finish this GMG Psalms study, I hope to begin the one that preceded it for Psalms 51-100, then maybe tackle a more in-depth study of  Psalms from the The Daily Grace Co.  But we will see.  I don't want to get ahead of myself. 

 I like to use the SOAP method of Bible study, and the journal from GMG uses a very similar method.  I find this method a real blessing whether I am studying shorter passages or longer ones, so I hope you'll give it a try if you haven't ever done so. Just a reminder that the S is for Scripture -- just write it out -- and the O is for Observation, the A is for Application and the P is for prayer -- concerning how you'll apply this verse or praise for what it means to you.

This study also includes a reflection question for each passage.  Sometime I answer this in my study, and sometimes not.  Most often, when I do answer it, I'll do so right after the SOAP part.

Today's study is from Psalm 137.  Verse 4 was the one to focus on, but I chose to look at verses 1-4.

S= "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
"We hung 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 foreign land?" (Psalm 137:1-4)

O= C. I. Scofield titles this psalm "The captive's cry for vengeance".  A marginal note points out that "a song" in verse 3 literally means "the words of a song". 

Believer's Bible Commentary explains, "Written after the return from Babylonian bondage, the psalm looks back to the bitterness of being exiled from Zion.  Whenever they had time, perhaps on the sabbath, they gathered by the rivers of Babylon to pray ... As they looked into the rivers of Babylon, they saw in them a picture of their own rivers of tears and anguish.  They had hung their harps upon the willows -- as we would say, they had put them on the shelf.  From a human standpoint ... there was nothing to sing about.  And without a song to sing, there was no need of accompaniment."

For the Jews, William MacDonald notes, "it would be utterly incongruous to sing the LORD's song in a land of heathen idolaters.  They saw a moral impropriety about mixing the things of the LORD and the things of the world."

F.B. Meyer wrote, "The land of the stranger and the song of the Lord can never be found together."

C.J. Vaughan, quoted in The Treasury of David, wrote: "The feelings of the present life are often adverse to praise.  The exiles in Babylon could not sing because they were in heaviness.  God's hand was heavy upon them ... for their sins.  Now the feelings of many of us are in like manner adverse to the Lord's song.  Some of us are in great sorrow.  We have lost a friend; we are in anxiety about one who is all to us; we know not which way to turn for tomorrow's bread or for this day's comfort.  How can we sing the Lord's song?"

Also quoted in The Treasury of David, William De Burgh wrote, "The one embittering thought that made them ... heavy at heart, silenced their voices, and unstrung their harps, was the cause of this calamity -- their sin.  Paul and Silas could sing in a dungeon, but it was not their sin brought them there ... saints suffering for the name of Christ could say 'we are exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.'  There is no real sorrow in any circumstances into which God brings us, or where He leads and goes with us; but where sin is, and suffering is felt to be  -- not persecution, but judgment -- there can be no real joy."

A= It seems to me that in a very real sense,  believers live "in a foreign land."  This world is not our home.  Our citizenship is in heaven.  So as we seek to live for the Lord in this world, it could be said that we are singing His song in a foreign land.  Another C.J. Vaughan quote makes this point as well:

"Is it not true that, in many senses, we, like the Jewish exiles, have to sing the Lord's song in a strange land? ... The very life which we live here in the body is a life of sight and sense.  Naturally we walk by sight; and to sing the Lord's song is possible only by faith."

As the author notes in our reflection question, sometimes the storms of life threaten to still our song of praise.  Beginning to praise God in a trial opens the door (and our hearts) to further songs of praise.

P= "Lord, I am so thankful that it is possible to sing Your song in a foreign land!  The very world in which we live is foreign to us -- we are pilgrims, just passing through.  We often find ourselves surrounded by difficulties in this life and our hearts feel too heavy to sing.  Yet there is always something to praise You for -- our salvation, or Your presence with us in the trial.  I know that when we take that step of obedience and begin to praise You, we begin to see victory in our trials.  I praise You for how You work in our lives, in Jesus' name, Amen."

Reflection Question:

Our God is good and worthy of all our praise but sometimes life's storms bring us low.  Tell of a time when you were in such despair you could not lift your voice to sing in worship.  How did God bring you through this difficult time?

My answer: I do recall times like this.  I was trusting God and keeping my eyes on Him, but it was difficult to do more than that at first.  I remember praising God that He was in the difficulties with me, and it helped tremendously that there was something concrete I could praise Him for.  Godly counselors, a supportive church family, those who offered supportive, practical help and wisdom, and God's Word, especially Psalms, were all things God used to bring me through the hard times.  And it all started when I began to praise Him.

That's the Sunday Scripture for this week!