The psalms are filled with the deepest longings of the hearts of the godly. There are those psalms which shout the praises of God. “O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens” (Psa. 8:1). There are those psalms which proclaim the existence of God and bring undeniable proof that He is real. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork” (Psa. 19:1). There are those psalms of comfort to which we turn in our darkest hours. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. . . . Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psa. 23:1, 4). Where would we be without these amazing words!
I am not sure if there is any psalm which gives deeper insight into the depth of devotion of the godly than Psalm 137. The words show that this psalm was obviously not written by David, who wrote most of the psalms. It was written by the captives who had been taken to Babylon. The writer looks back to the destruction of Jerusalem when the Edomites (the descendants of Esau and therefore “cousins” of the Jews) watched from the sidelines and cheered that the holy city was being destroyed. The psalm was written as these captives sat under the (weeping?) willow trees with broken hearts. The Babylonians demanded, with no avail, that the Jews sing one of the joyful melodies from Israel.
Read the words and weep with the Jews exiled in Babylon. Then mimic their undying devotion to God!
1 “By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.
2 We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it.
3 For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested 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 If I do not remember you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth-If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.
7 Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom. The day of Jerusalem, who said, ‘Raze it, raze it, To its very foundation!’”