Psalm 137 - By the rivers of Babylon

Read: Psalm 137 vs 1-9

The Bible is a book of promises. Back at the very beginning, when God called Abraham He promised that He would not only give him a family, but that He would lead them to a land of their own. This land was to be known as the Promised Land and it was to be a place of safety and of plenty.

In the book of Joshua God kept His promise and His people crossed over the Jordan and entered into the Promised Land. However reading in from there we find that once in the Promised Land the people began to forget the God who had saved them. The book of 2 Kings tells the story of how God’s blessing had turned to judgment and the people found themselves carried into what the Bible describes as a place of exile. For decades to come life would be lived out in Babylon, a far off land, a land of threat and a land where God where God was not recognised as King.

This is the context of Psalm 137, today’s daily Psalm. It pictures God’s people far from home, far from the familiar. They are sitting by ‘the rivers of Babylon’ (vs 1) and they are being taunted by their captors (vs 3). Their feet are in Babylon but their hearts are in Jerusalem as they long for the land of Promise (vs 5-6).

It’s interesting how in this Psalm God finds His people, and they find Him, in a very difficult place. The pain in this Psalm is intense, there is brutal anger as these people of faith look in the face of their captors (vs 8-9). The Bible pictures life today as life in exile (1 Peter1:1). In so many ways we live out our faith in Christ in a place that is not home, and not the land of Promise. Though we make our lives here, we our citizens of another place that is yet to come (Philippians 3:20). One day ‘Babylon’ will be finally destroyed (Revelation 18:2). For now we set our hearts on what is to come, and in the meantime we get on with life, knowing that even here God hears the cries of His people, and even here He is King.

Prayer: Lord time and again we are reminded that this world is not as it should be. As we await our final home, the land of Promise, keep us trusting and looking to you. Keep us faithful and thank You that even here You are with us and You are King. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.