Let's look at Psalm 136 from God's point of view. How God must have felt when He was finally physically in David's life again. His dwelling place, the arc, returned safely home; Father and son together again! No loving parent hopes for anything more than to be with their children, to be present in their daily lives. In addition to the physical union, God's joy was certainly multiplied with David's repeated affirmations of His steadfast love. The Father sees that His son "gets" the depth of His sacrificial love, a parent's love, an eternal, everlasting love. It was surely an occasion to make all the heavens and angels rejoice.
Leaving the celebratory circumstance of Psalm 136, we find Psalm 137 to be contrastingly woeful. Most likely written by Ezra in his old age, he conveys an experience when he was uncomfortable and even tormented for singing the praises of God. In misery, he cries out to the heavens, "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?" Ezra and his fellow travelers were mocked by their captors for their songs. It hurt Ezra to his very core that he could not speak of God's name with an open heart. This passage is relative to today as societal and government statutes prevent us from freely speaking the word of God. Our public schools are no longer places where the word of God is mentioned, our government buildings are no longer places where Christian values can be displayed, and our military is no longer a Christian army led by the cross. Who are we as a nation if we are no longer free to speak our hearts openly about the creator, the redeemer, the almighty savior of us all? It should bother us, as did Ezra, to the core of our souls. He wails in Psalm 137:6, "Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set You above my highest joy!" Does America set God above its highest joy?
Is it any wonder that our children are choosing to follow the paths of idols, to turn on the faith of their youth? They scoff at us, too, telling us that our beliefs are outdated and narrow minded. It is truly miraculous when in such a society as we live today that God is able to fulfill His purpose in any of us. With the church no more the center of community life and character formation, the lines between right and wrong are becoming increasingly distorted to the point that our children believe that right is wrong and wrong is right. What David states in Psalm 138:7 lies our comfort,"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou dost preserve my life; thou dost stretch out thy hand against the wrath of my enemies, and thy right hand delivers me." In these troubled times, we have to believe like David as evil lurks on every corner in places that used to be considered safe havens - our homes, our schools, our courts, and even our churches.
We have to find strength in the Psalms, God is steadfast! "He knows when I sit down and when I rise up," declares David in Psalm 139. God is with us in our every waking breath he continues in verses 8 through 10, "If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there! If I take wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."
I love the image of God holding me. I visualize it often. His loving arms around me are, as David speaks in Psalm 40, my deliverance, my preservation from evil, evil which often manifests itself in the form of fear, despair, or loneliness. He enfolds me in His arms and protects me from those I allow to hurt me. My Lord is steadfast, there is nothing I must endure without Him. "His steadfast love endures forever, His steadfast love endures forever, His steadfast love endures forever"...x 25 infinitely.
We have to find strength in the Psalms, God is steadfast! "He knows when I sit down and when I rise up," declares David in Psalm 139. God is with us in our every waking breath he continues in verses 8 through 10, "If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there! If I take wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me."
I love the image of God holding me. I visualize it often. His loving arms around me are, as David speaks in Psalm 40, my deliverance, my preservation from evil, evil which often manifests itself in the form of fear, despair, or loneliness. He enfolds me in His arms and protects me from those I allow to hurt me. My Lord is steadfast, there is nothing I must endure without Him. "His steadfast love endures forever, His steadfast love endures forever, His steadfast love endures forever"...x 25 infinitely.
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