“The only One who really matters has your back!”
That closing line in an email I received several years ago from a church member, friend, and dear sister in Jesus reminded me of an important truth.
Psalm 137:1-4 says,
By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. There we hung up our lyres on the poplar trees, for our captors there asked us for songs, and our tormentors, for rejoicing: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” How can we sing the Lord’s song on foreign soil?
While our captivity is not a physical one in Babylon, our hearts can yet be made to feel captive by even more formidable foes than Babylon – memories, failures, grief, disappointments, hurts, fear, bad health. While we remember better times when we were closer to God and filled with His joy, these tormentors and captors ridicule us, asking us why we aren’t singing those happy songs we used to sing. How can we sing those songs of joy we used to sing when these faceless enemies have taken our hearts and our spirits captive and led us off into a land of emotional exile? Sometimes it is just impossible to muster one of those old familiar songs.
Let me suggest 3 songs of Zion for you to sing when you feel you have been taken captive and tormented by that unseen enemy. First, try singing “How Great Thou Art.” Nothing makes our problems look smaller than when we compare them to the vast greatness of God. Jeremiah proclaimed “Ah, Lord God! You Yourself made the heavens and earth by Your great power and with Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!” (Jeremiah 32:17) Those emotions, circumstances, and issue that hold us in bondage are no match for the liberating power of God. As we begin to praise Him and declare His greatness, the shackles begin to disappear.
We can also sing “Victory in Jesus.” 1 Corinthians 15:57 reminds us “thanks be to God who gives us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.” Because of His sacrificial death on the cross on our behalf, there is absolutely no foe that can defeat us, no power that can overcome us, no circumstance that can stop us. No, in fact, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)
Let me also suggest singing “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” In Jeremiah 29:11 God tells us, “I know the plans I have for you . . . plans for good and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Your captors, whatever they may be, cannot prevent God from bringing to pass what He has planned for you. Philippians 1:6 reminds us that we can be confident that the One “who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
So take your lyre down out of the tree, tune it up, and start singing anyway . . . even if you don’t feel like it. In spite of your circumstances, the only One who really matters has your back!