Weeping Over What Was

December 8

(Psalm 137:1-9 NIV) “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. {2} There on the poplars we hung our harps, {3} for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" {4} How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? {5} If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. {6} May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. {7} Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. "Tear it down," they cried, "tear it down to its foundations!" {8} O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us-- {9} he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.”

Sometimes we don’t realize what we have until it is lost. Sometimes we don’t appreciate freedom until we wake up in bondage. Our hearts despair that we may never experience joy again. We hang our heads. Weeping is the dominant sound in our life. In our torment, songs of gladness are a distant memory. Our world is painted black. The destruction appears to be irreversible. Our hearts can become darkened to the point that we wish death upon those we deem responsible for our plight; even upon their children. We see their demise as our only hope for recovery. Hate and bitterness take command of our souls as we abandon Christ’s call to love our enemies. We conveniently forget that our walk led us here. Our choices took us down the road to this slimy pit. We invited our captors in. We drove the nails that keep us on our cross. Only one name can free us: Jesus. He is our only hope. Call on Him. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day