Thy Strong Word – Psalm 137. Keep praying saints: How can I sing when in grief?

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Rev. Steven Theiss, vacancy pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, MO joins host Rev. Brady Finnern to study Psalm 137.

The Israelites sat by the river in Babylon in grief. They were in captivity and were asked to sing. How often are we able to sing when in despair? The time we like to sing is for times of joy, not while in angst. The Israelites wrote this psalm remembering the “good old days”, hoping to never forget their motherland, and praying harm to the wicked who brought them out. God allows them to lament and allows us to do the same, even when our words are not holy toward others. He then reminds us of His promises that we have in Christ and the promised land of eternity. “Lord God, help us in our grief. Give us words to be strengthened and grant us peace to move forward by Your grace in Christ. Amen”

Thy Strong Word reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations.

Thy Strong Word is hosted by Rev. Brady Finnern, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Sartell, MN, and graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation.

Psalm 137

How Shall We Sing the Lord‘s Song?

137 By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
2 On the willows[a] there
we hung up our lyres.
3 For there our captors
required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4 How shall we sing the Lord‘s song
in a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its skill!
6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy!

7 Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem,
how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare,
down to its foundations!”
8 O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who repays you
with what you have done to us!
9 Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rock!

Footnotes

Psalm 137:2 Or poplars

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. esv.org