Psalm 137: Babylon


 There is no positive connotation for Babylon in the Bible. In the Old Testament it is the literal place of Judah’s captivity, the kingdom that destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon’s temple. In the New Testament it is largely figurative, used once by Peter, probably to describe Rome and then throughout Revelation as a picture not of a future singular city, but as the embodiment of Satan’s kingdom. I believe that Babylon is the seduction that seeks to have its way in every place, people and nation on earth, to draw our hearts from God and to set them on ourselves. What’s most interesting, is that in the Old Testament, Babylon was not where Judah went astray, but the place God used to expose, judge and correct the wayward places in the hearts of His people. 

There is not a sadder song in the psalms, the emotion of the opening lines is clear and deep, “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.” From the tense of the verbs, we can see that psalm was written in the past tense, this is not a song of their captivity but looking back on it after returning to Jerusalem. It evokes grief, the despair that must have overwhelmed the captives in Babylon. They had been carried off against their will. Not just their city, but the temple, the house of God, the place where His presence dwelled had been destroyed. No doubt loved ones had been killed. All their possessions had been lost. But maybe the greatest reason for their grief was that their hearts had become hard, their sin had been exposed and they must have been left sitting by the waters of Babylon wondering what would now become of all the promises that God had made. Would the Messiah still come? Would David’s throne be restored? Would redemption draw nigh? Would all the nations of the earth still be blessed through Israel?

While grief is often one of our first responses to conviction, to having our hearts exposed and seeing our sin as it really is, if our grief doesn’t lead us to repentance not only is it wasted, it’s probably manipulative. II Corinthians 7:10 says, “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” God only exposes what He desires to heal, but until we honestly accept responsibility for our hearts and our actions, we remain unwilling to walk in the submission that is required for transformation. Judah’s grief had to shift from the place of their captivity to the condition of their hearts, not where they were but how they got there. 

God had used Jeremiah, repeatedly to warn Judah that judgment, specifically 70 years of captivity, was coming if they did not repent. God was not only calling to account, but He was also calling them to forgiveness and healing. He confronted them about their idolatry, disobedience and selfishness (I would encourage you to take a few days and read through the book of Jeremiah in its proper context of warning Judah to repent before judgment came). Rather than heeding the call of God, they chose to harden their hearts, they sought out false prophets that told them that all was well, even that God was pleased with them. They loved their lives, their dreams, their way of thinking and doing so much that rather than listening to God, they deceived themselves. And yet, God is so kind and loving that even in the moments that they were being led away in chains, He spoke of His kindness and love: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.” (Jeremiah 29:10) Before they repented, before they were even willing to acknowledge their sin, God promised His grace. I must say this again, God only exposes what He desires to heal. 

The psalmist wrote more of the grief of the captives, “On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’” It was not just that they didn’t feel like singing, but the grief was such that they felt as if they had no more song to sing. They hung up their lyres (harps). Their enemies taunted them, mockingly asking them to play the famous songs of Zion. They not only felt the grief of all they had lost and the weight of their sin but also the cruel accusations of those who now held them in bondage. If we will not listen to the voice of God as He lovingly calls us to confess our sins, we will end up having to listen to the accusations of our enemy who loves to define us by our sin.

This is where beauty begins to break through. They didn’t leave their lyres in Jerusalem; they weren’t destroyed with the city. While their songs had been quieted, they had not been ruined, they had not been removed. They were not able to sing in those days, but because of God’s goodness, even the act of keeping their temporarily silenced harps meant that they believed that they would one day sing again. God’s character convinced them that even though they were far off they were not lost. 

Then comes the question that must be considered, “How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?” There is room for grief, but we cannot allow it to take over. We will face disappointment, but we cannot embrace it. We will be embarrassed possibly even ashamed of our sin, but we cannot hide it. Babylon was not the place where sin had led Judah, it was the place where God would forgive and heal them. Sin did not lead them into captivity, God led them into captivity to free them from their sin. 



In John 3:18, Jesus told Nicodemus, “Whoever does not believe is condemned already”. Our faith in Jesus does not keep us from being condemned, it brings us back from condemnation. In the same way, sin does not lead us to captivity, we are already captive to and in our sin. Judah was captive to their sin long before they were led to Babylon. Before the temple was destroyed in Jerusalem it had already been defiled in their hearts. This means that “the end of the rope”, “rock bottom” our lowest, worst and most shameful places are not the outcome of sin they are the kindness of God, they are places that God allows, even orders so that we will open our hearts, listen to His voice and repent of the sin that is keeping us from the relationship He desires with us. 

If God were cruel, He would have allowed Judah to continue in their sin, to just go about their idolatry, thirst for prosperity and lives of self-satisfaction. To use Jesus’ language from Matthew 16:26, they would have gained the whole world but lost their souls. But God is not cruel, He abounds in kindness, and so He warned Judah through His prophets and then when they refused the conviction of the Spirit, He led them to a place of physical captivity so that they could be set spiritually free. May I be so bold as to ask today, what if the places of our struggle, our turmoil, our lack of production are places where God is seeking to set us free from the things that He sees hiding in our hearts? What if exposure is not God’s judgment but His love? What if the place or the season you are trying to get free from is the place or the season that God has chosen to set you free in? 

Back to the question, “How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?” By faith, with courage, in hope, for joy. Judah was taken away with a promise that God would bring them back. We all have that promise! No matter what we are dealing with, no matter what God is pointing to in the hidden places of our hearts, no matter how long we’ve been bound, how stubborn we’ve been or deceived we’ve become, our promise is, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9) God’s will for our lives is not about the places or the seasons, it’s about our hearts, in fact, the places and the seasons are nothing more than the tools God uses to do His work for His will in our hearts. Yield to His will, sing His song, trust His heart and rather than trying to fight our way out of Babylon, let’s submit our hearts and our lives to God and sing, even in our captivity, as Jeremiah did, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23) 


Comments

Popular Posts