Commonplace –
“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” (Psalm 137:4).
This is a song for the Israelites who were taken captive and dragged off to Babylon. It is a lament for what they left behind, Zion. They longed to return to their land. They were bitter towards their captors. In the midst of the enemy, the psalmist wondered how to sing a song to the Lord in a land where their voices were outnumbered by the enemy.
The Israelites question was one the modern day Christian could also pose? How do I live like a Christian in the world? How does one live ‘in the world’ but not ‘be of the world’. The Sabbath is the day of week set aside for rest and remembering our faith, reflecting on our walk over the previous week and reminding ourselves how to walk out our Christian faith in the week to come. It’s the day where we get a little glimpse of Heaven, time spent in the presence of the Lord. Instead of focusing on an enemy, we should shift our focus to God and His power.
Matthew Henry had the following thoughts about Psalm 137:
“In singing this psalm we must be much affected with the concernments of the church, especially that part of it that is in affliction, laying the sorrows of God’s people near our hearts, comforting ourselves in the prospect of the deliverance of the church and the ruin of its enemies, in due time, but carefully avoiding all personal, and not mixing the leaven of our malice with our sacrifices” (616).
It is important to walk with those who are suffering. My understanding of the comfort found in the ruin of the Church’s enemies is the comfort that comes when sin and evil are overcome. This happens on a personal level and a corporate level. It’s not hatred towards people but towards the evil in the world, which is the enemy of the church and all the Christians therein.
Works Cited
Henry, Matthew. “Psalm 137.” Matthew Henry’s Commentary On the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition. Volume 3 and Volume 6, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., March 1996.
Holy Bible: Giant Print with Study Aids. Dugan Publishers, Inc., 1984.
© 2025 Angela Hormberg
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