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Are you sad? Hang up my Harp (A Living room song)

Crushed by consequences? I hope this can encourage you

Sorrow — Life

The Bible speaks of a sorrow that leads to death and a sorrow that leads to life. And I want to focus on life.

This song comes from the story of the nation of Judah, the city of Jerusalem. Ignoring the warnings of God for more than 40 years. Isaiah was murdered, and Jeremiah sounded the alarm again and again … yet as the prophet said, “As a horse charges into battle …” His words of warning could not change their direction. Their hearts remained bent on doing evil. And so they met with the consequences.

The army of Babylon came, took the city and force marched the people 500 miles back to Babylon. You can read more about it (here). Pretty sad story so far right?

Shaken to the core

Then comes Psalm 137, the expression of a people whose homes and city were up in flames. Whose lives had crumbled like a dry autumn leaf. They did not listen to Jeremiah. And they were exiled. Pause: Reader, I’m not sure where you live — but imagine an army arriving this weekend and taking you and your family back to their land, your town in flames.

Play: The experience shook them, shook their pride and arrogance. Their false trust: Thinking that because they had ‘The Temple’ and were supposed to be ‘The Chosen People’ that they could live how they want and ignore the very God who brought them to be (Jeremiah 7).

Broken God’s Way

They were broken, and I believe the Psalmist was broken in a good way. A Godly sorrow that the bible talks of: “A broken spirit and a contrite heart O God, you will not despise.”

And so … They sat beside the Euphrates, they had brought their harps but their hearts prevented them from touching the chords. Tears of repentance fell from their eyes as they realized the error of their ways, and felt a deep desire to make things right with God again.

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The end ? … Not so!

When some Babylonian Soldiers interrupted them, demanding one of their Temple songs that Hebrew minstrelsy boasted of. They could not, would not. How could they?

For them, being far from their Temple, far from their Lords house, could be compared to being captive by our sins to the point where the believing Christian no longer feels the presence of God, the joy of salvation lost in a mire of messy and muddy mistakes.

A sad moment, and a song based on the tragedy of unheeded warnings. Yet it’s not the end, and that is the purpose of this post. To say that God has not finished, that 70 years later a man called Daniel read his Bible and knew that it was time for his people to go home. To rebuild the Temple, and to live out the fullness of Almighty God’s plan.

The same applies to us, to every reader wherever you are. Don’t let yourself be crushed by voices that mock, by circumstances that say “give up”, by your own heart which might be weighed down with burdens.

It’s time to rise up, and from a broken heart that desires the things of God — more precious than gold and silver: To say: “Yes LORD, bring me back to the place where I belong, at your feet, loving you and serving you with all my heart.”

For all things will work together to the good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.


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