The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 137:4,
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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"How can we sing the songs of the Lord
while in a foreign land?"
From eternity, before the Lord even created Adam and Eve, he determined he would redeem mankind. God knows all things, even future things as he exists outside of the dimension of time (this makes my head hurt!). Thus he knew mankind would turn against him and when mankind did so, God began his activity to redeem us.
We know this from passages such as Ephesians 1:4-8a, "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us." In this example Paul speaks of God predestining his adoption of those who embrace him in faith through his Son "before the creation of the world".
The Old Testament Scriptures provide us the record of God dealing with his covenanted people to prepare them for the main attraction of his program of redemption: the coming Messiah, born as a Jew, who would take the punishment for the sins of mankind on himself.
Here is the purpose of God having his people defeated by the Babylonians and their deportation. They needed to be molded into what God desired his people to be when the Son of God arrived to the nation. The differences between the nation of Israel prior to their destruction and deportation compared to what the nation looked like when Jesus did arrive is simply amazing! Among a number of things, idolatry was gone. The Scriptures, which had been lost during the succession of the kings prior to their deportation, were now the focus of the culture and fabric of the nation. Israel, while certainly not a perfect nation at the time with her many faults (and importantly, their failure to embrace the Messiah when he came), was now a nation God used for his purposes of redemption when Jesus appeared.
I see this simple verse here in Psalm 137 as the stirrings of what the Lord was accomplishing in developing the nation - to set the stage for the arrival of the Messiah. It expresses their longing for the land the Lord had given them (and now taken them from), and importantly, the anticipated joy they sought in singing "songs of the Lord", not in a foreign land, but in that land he had given them.
And, as I see how God brought needed changes to Israel, I am reminded of the needed changes the Lord brings to my own life - changes desperately needed!
while in a foreign land?"
From eternity, before the Lord even created Adam and Eve, he determined he would redeem mankind. God knows all things, even future things as he exists outside of the dimension of time (this makes my head hurt!). Thus he knew mankind would turn against him and when mankind did so, God began his activity to redeem us.
We know this from passages such as Ephesians 1:4-8a, "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us." In this example Paul speaks of God predestining his adoption of those who embrace him in faith through his Son "before the creation of the world".
The Old Testament Scriptures provide us the record of God dealing with his covenanted people to prepare them for the main attraction of his program of redemption: the coming Messiah, born as a Jew, who would take the punishment for the sins of mankind on himself.
Here is the purpose of God having his people defeated by the Babylonians and their deportation. They needed to be molded into what God desired his people to be when the Son of God arrived to the nation. The differences between the nation of Israel prior to their destruction and deportation compared to what the nation looked like when Jesus did arrive is simply amazing! Among a number of things, idolatry was gone. The Scriptures, which had been lost during the succession of the kings prior to their deportation, were now the focus of the culture and fabric of the nation. Israel, while certainly not a perfect nation at the time with her many faults (and importantly, their failure to embrace the Messiah when he came), was now a nation God used for his purposes of redemption when Jesus appeared.
I see this simple verse here in Psalm 137 as the stirrings of what the Lord was accomplishing in developing the nation - to set the stage for the arrival of the Messiah. It expresses their longing for the land the Lord had given them (and now taken them from), and importantly, the anticipated joy they sought in singing "songs of the Lord", not in a foreign land, but in that land he had given them.
And, as I see how God brought needed changes to Israel, I am reminded of the needed changes the Lord brings to my own life - changes desperately needed!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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