“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans” [Reader’s Digest, January 1957] describes the unpredictable nature of life. We’ve all been accosted by the unexpected, both good and bad. It’s impossible to control everything! No matter how well we prepare, life has its way of challenging, shocking or surprising us. Believing in Yahshua and trusting Him for all the details, doesn’t protect us from this.
Psalm 137 is a lament of great sadness and despair. Israel had been ransacked and its people dragged off into exile. Seated on the banks of one of Babylon’s rivers, the musicians hung up their instruments on nearby trees – and wept. “Sing us one of the songs of Zion”, taunted their captors. The psalmist was made bitter and hostile by this request for joy in their suffering, and his song throbs with mourning [137:4-6]. But as the reality and horror of the situation grows on him his heart bursts into feelings of outrage, and he demands a terrible vengeance [v9].
The book of Psalms is, essentially, a song book! I often pause in my readings, wondering when they would sing a particular psalm and how it would be presented. When they sang No.137 would they include v9 where the writer, speaking to Babylon, cries agonisingly, “Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks”?
As we read the Psalms we become aware that Israel is not afraid to acknowledge the pain of life, and her people are not ashamed to own that bad things happen. King David wasn’t humiliated to own feelings of anger and revenge [Psalm 140:8-11] and, astonishingly, turn his curses into a song! When would they sing this, I wonder? We know David was a righteous man, but he wasn’t reluctant to acknowledge his humanity. He and his fellow songwriters, in doing this, left behind a priceless legacy of comfort and consolation to the generations which would follow.
Life happens! It’s not a failure, a weakness or a punishment, it is what it is! Our Father, who has promised never to leave us, is the One who can carry us through it all.
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1 timothy 3:16 NIV - Beyond all question, the mystery from - Bible Gateway
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