Pastor Fredo Ramos: Psalm one thirty seven. Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept as we thought about Jerusalem. We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees for our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn. Sing us one of those songs of Jerusalem.
But how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a pagan land? If I forget you, o Jerusalem, let my right hand forget how to play the harp. May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth. May if I fail to remember you, if I don't make Jerusalem my greatest joy. O Lord, remember what the Edomites did on the day of the armies of Babylon when they captured Jerusalem.
Destroy it, they yelled. Level it to the ground. Oh Babylon, you will be destroyed. For happy is the one who pays you back for what you have done to us. Happy is the one who takes your babies and smashes them against the rocks.
By way of reflection, Psalm one thirty seven is not an easy one to pray as we just heard there in verse nine. Who prays to God to smash their children? Keep in mind in the historical setting of this Psalm, Israel remember is praying these prayers. These prayers were gathered and collected collected into this book, not in a time when all things were well, but oftentimes when things were in disarray. This particular Psalm calls us back to a point in Israel's history where they were in captivity.
They were slaves. They were oppressed by the Babylonians. And so this prayer is birthed out of a place of injustice where they have been treated wrongly. And they're, venting their anger. They're asking that the future generations of Babylon be be smashed, be killed.
It's a way for them to say, God, do to them what they've done to us. Right? This is a prayer of releasing vengeance into the hands of God. And it's interesting that they note how the captors have, you know, kind of poke fun at them. Like, hey, sing one of those songs.
Right? They're almost antagonizing them. Like, sing a song that you would sing while they're out working in the fields, while they're out doing their thing for these captors who now own them. And so this psalm is birthed from a place of pain and from a place of oppression. When you feel like you are under the rule of somebody else and that it's hard to notice and sense and feel the promises of God.
And yet this Psalm instructs us still that even in a place of oppression, even in a place of injustice and pain, we can still cry out. We can still remember who God is and what he's doing in our lives. And we can properly place vengeance back into the hands of God. As you've been with us, you've noticed that this is an important theme through Psalms, where people take the way that they are feeling about the wrongs in the world and they're surrendering them rightfully back to God because he will do what is right. This is repeated.
Why? Because as people, we need to be formed in this every day. Coming back to the reality that though we long and feel in our heart that we know what to do what is right, we have to return that back to God. He will do what is right. Because ultimately, Psalm one thirty seven points us to Jesus, a young child who also grew up in an oppressed situation and surrendered himself to his oppressors dying on a cross so that he can reconcile God and sinners, you and I.
So that you and I can become people of reconciliation. Meaning we have a brand new lens, a gospel lens on how we see justice in the world and how we see God carrying out what we think is vengeance and doing what is right. And so God, we hear you now inviting us to rightfully surrender the feelings we have about taking vengeance. Maybe there's a situation we're walking through, where this is very real. And honestly God, maybe this is not a situation and this Psalm just feels far from us.
But would you help us to identify ourselves with oppressed people around the world knowing that evil often is reigning, but we look to you King Jesus as the victor over death, the victor over evil, and you will one day make all things right. And so today, will you help us to stand in allegiance with those who are oppressed, knowing that you are the king and you will deliver them. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen.