Do you remember times in your life when you enjoyed singing so much you just did not want to stop – despite your tired vocal cords? Singing the songs of redemption, songs of praise, songs of worship, songs of adoration – yes, singing with all your heart from the very depths of your heart and meaning every single word you sang. Perhaps it was in a congregational setting. Maybe it was in a crowded room around a piano or acapella style in the foyer of a large building surrounded by like-minded Christian friends.
Things have changed now, and someone says: “Oh, I didn’t know you were a Christian. If that’s the case, you probably know some Christian hymns. Let me hear you sing. I bet you have a good voice.” Such an awkward moment and a deeply sad one too. It almost feels like the blade of a dagger twisting inside you.
Centuries ago, God’s people were torn from their homeland in Jerusalem and taken far away to Babylon as captives. Perhaps at the end of a day of hard labour, these captives-in-exile would go down to the Euphrates River in Babylon and just sit there and cry – yes, cry or weep – whichever term you prefer. Their grief was palpable and deep. “How did we ever end up here, and why? So far, so very far away! When will we ever be able to return? Will we ever be able to sing again?”
The members of the Jerusalem choir and orchestra were no different from all the others captives. Their harps/lyres were so much a part of their lives they were like an extension to their bodies. But when they got to the riverside, sadly they hung their beloved harps on the drooping limbs of the river willow trees. The locals saw the singers/musicians there and asked them to sing some of the songs from their homeland.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. 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!” How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? Psalms 137:1-4
It is highly unlikely that the Babylonian army has taken you captive. But there are other forces, very real and very powerful in 2021 and we are prey to such forces. Discouragement. Bitterness. Doubts. Sin.
Sin takes Christians captive into a land that is foreign to who they are in Christ – so very foreign. We can lose our song tragically. The sinister forces of sin creep up against us and worm their way right into our hearts and take us captive. Christians are held hostage by their own sin.
Happily singing Christ-focused hymns becomes a nostalgic memory – a painful one to think about under such dark circumstances. “Did you ask me to sing? How can I sing where I am today?”
You can be delivered from the bondage of the sin that is holding you captive. Humble repentance and honest confession, and a fresh turning to the Lord is the answer. Rarely easy but the only way to be able to sing again.
Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.
Warmly in Christ,
Peter Ramsay
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Thank you! I used to annoy my kids when they were young by singing “I feel like singing all the time”. However they knew, they didn’t want to hear me “all the time” so they would chorus – “NO, please don”t!” However over the years spontaneous hymn singing has been a practice of mine. Sometimes I wake up with words of a hymn on my mind. Recently “O joy of the justified, joy of the free/ I’m washed in that crimson tide opened for me/ In Christ my Redeemer rejoicing I stand/ And point to the print of the nail in His hand,” It’s makes for a very good day!
He is truly my Joy and my Song! Oh sing of His Mighty LOVE……oh what a Saviour that gives us a New Song in our hearts as we travel lifes road leading onward, upward to the Celestial City singing His Praises for Evermore ….. we have so much to sing about, now and for all Eternity !!!!