Psalm 137 - How to Worship Through Seasons of Suffering

I'm going to invite you this morning to Psalm 137. That's where we're going to be together today. Psalm 137. And I feel it a little necessary just to let you know, in light of getting ready to read this Psalm. A couple of things. One is that I picked this Psalm months in advance about the end of March. I think we had laid out the Psalms that we were going to go through in this series together. The reason I want to say that to you is because this Psalm is a very heavy psalm. And in reading through this Psalm, you might try to think that I read headlines of the news and just kind of decide on Sunday what I'm going to preach on based on recent headlines. And I just want you to know that is not the case, okay? I think there's a time and a place to help us learn through God's Word. When events are taking place in our culture and around the world. That could be true, but I didn't. We don't. That's not how we operate here as a church, right? I picked this month, this particular Psalm, months in advance. Next week will be in Psalm 146, just so you know. And then we'll start a new series on July 13th from first Thessalonians before we begin the next series, which is in the book of acts, when school starts. So, we prepare in advance how we're going to do that.

But in looking at this Psalm, one other thing I want you to be aware of is this is a very heavy Psalm. Psalm 137 is dealing with Israel being attacked. And so when you look at this Psalm, just to give you a little bit of a backdrop, a larger people group, which is Babylon, comes against a smaller people group, which is Israel attacks and destroys them, and they pillage Jerusalem. They tear down the temple, they kill people, and then they capture some people and take them as slaves into Babylon. And while all this is happening, this other group of people known as the Edomites, they cheer it on. They celebrate the destruction of Israel and Jerusalem, and they cheer on the Babylonian Babylonians and what they are doing, In fact, this song you're going to see gets really graphic in the way it describes itself. I mean, the end of this psalm just kind of ends not with a positive note. It's a very difficult, raw, emotional psalm. And while the Babylonians are attacking Israel, one of the things that they do is as mothers are fleeing for their life, the soldiers from Babylon will run in and see mothers with babies, and they'll grab the babies by the feet, and they'll just bash the babies against the side of a rock or a stone, whatever they can, just to take life. I mean, it is shocking. It is disgusting. It is horrific to even think about these things.

And here it is in God's word. And so we're going to look at this passage together. And we're going to deal with how do we worship in those seasons of suffering when we go through struggles in life, how do we in that raw honesty, approach God and walk through those battles and still engage the Lord historically. Psalm 137 has been a psalm people have gone through through challenging seasons. Most specifically, if I just highlighted one particular time in history during World War two, when the Jewish people were going to the concentration camps, this psalm was often reflected on. And then even immediately after. This is a very popular psalm for the for the Jewish people to read. And it taught them that it's okay to come before God when you're in that raw, emotional place. In fact, that's the beauty of the Book of Psalms. Every season of life, there is a Psalm that really teaches us how to engage the Lord with where we are. It helps us learn to put language to the things that we're going through, and learning that God is big enough to handle it. God is. He's big enough to take your anger and your questions and your heartache, and to entrust him the cry of your heart through the things that you're going through in life. And so this psalm becomes a very powerful psalm for us to learn how to do that, how to worship through through seasons of suffering.

As you look at this psalm, you'll note this psalm is really broken up into three verse chunks. And so that's why in your notes this morning, there's three sections. We're just highlighting one section at a time and learning the point of each section and how it teaches me in my own faith journey through the struggles that I go through, how to engage the Lord in a healthy way, even though I might not be enjoying my circumstances. You know there's a way to be thankful to the Lord in all things. It doesn't mean you have to be thankful to the Lord for all things right? Like I can be going through, say, a battle with cancer. And there's a way to still find a thankfulness in the Lord through that. But it doesn't mean I have to be thankful for that. Right. And so learning how to do that is critical for our lives. So let me give you point number one, and we'll read this psalm together. Number one is this acknowledge your anger before the Lord. Acknowledge your anger before the Lord. Let me say as you write that down, you could really put any emotion in here, any, any descriptor adjective for what you might experience in hardship. It doesn't have to be anger. I think very specifically as you read this psalm, this is certainly one of the emotions that the psalmist is dealing with on behalf of Israel is anger.

But it could be for us despair, it could be frustration, it could be any of those things. But related to the Psalm, this is very pointedly what the psalmist is going through. He's acknowledging this anger before the Lord. And I think acknowledging it is important. Right. And it's also important to recognize the phrase before the Lord, because there is some times in our lives where we go through experience, where we're acknowledging it in the wrong places, not necessarily the right places. We just kind of verbally puke on people. Like, just if anyone has an ear. Here I am to let you hear. We just can sometimes just spew things and I'm not saying that is necessarily a healthy thing to do, right? In fact, maybe sometimes we might even say, in a way, social media becomes our God. Like there are some people in this world, you never have to question what it is they're thinking and how they're feeling, because they're just seems to be no filter, especially when they get in the bravery behind a keyboard. Right? And they just say things and I just unfollow. Right. Like they just say they just say things. And let me just encourage you in this and just saying you never have to apologize for things you don't say. Right. So there's sometimes things that come to our head that you just it doesn't have to also reach your mouth.

Right. Like and I know and saying this I am more with you than against you. I like you guys are great. You don't do that at all. But it's just it helps us to be thinking, okay, when I acknowledge when I acknowledge what I, what I go through the place where I should often come to first or always come to first, is really the one who is ultimately in control, which is the Lord. As a follower of Jesus, that should be our starting place, not the last place we think about. And so what does it look like for me to be able to do that? And in Psalm 137, this is how he starts by the waters of Babylon. There we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion on the willows. There we hung up our ears, for there our captors required of us a song, and our tormentors mirth, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion. So hear you sing in the beginning of this Psalm, not only have they gone through this adversity of being pillaged and killed and taken into slavery, but their captors didn't leave it there. They continued to mock them, knowing that for the Jewish people, this place of Zion was a place of recognizing the good hand of God. And so they often sang about it in the celebration. And so they're mocking them, like, where is your celebration now? Continue to seeing us, those songs and what we're learning from this, the psalmist is one.

He doesn't want to give in to the mockery, but he's still singing a song, right? He's still coming to the Lord. That's what the Psalms book of Psalms are psalms of a song. Right? And there are times in life where we go through great things, and you just maybe you turn on the radio and there's just a song that really connects to you in that season. And sometimes it can be an upbeat song. You're like, man, that's a good song. Let's just celebrate and you sing a song. And then there are other times where you're just going through a rough time and you get one of those, deep soul songs and they just man, right? They just the words, it just hits home with where you are. And. And the psalmist is not saying that we don't have a song, but rather than let his circumstance dictate by the Babylonians that song he's singing, He's teaching us how to sing that song of lament. That song of deep grief in the heart. Now, when you look at the circumstances that the Babylonians are going through, I think it's important to, as we recognize these Psalms, these Psalms teach us how to worship the Lord in all seasons of life, whether it's good times or bad times. And anytime I'm reading a bad song, one of the things, one of the things that I'm I'm recognizing, I don't mean the psalm itself is bad, but the season that's written in is bad.

One of the things that I recognize is that often when we go through challenges, people tend to be more mindful of the Lord. Not always, but when things are going bad, we immediately want to think, oh, where is God, you know? And what does God think? How do I, God, where are you? You know, we get in that challenge and we go through good times in life. We're more apt, I think, to leave God behind. And we failed to connect how God is the giver of good things and look at the good things as the end unto themselves. And so it's important in our worship to recognize God and in every season of life. Lord, how do I connect to you? But here in this challenging season, one of the things I want us to note is the reason Israel has been brought into captivity. Get. This is because of Israel. Now, that doesn't mean everything that you ever go through in life, that it's because you did something wrong. But I want us to remember that God had warned Israel over and over in the Old Testament, and especially among the prophets, that if they didn't turn to him, God was going to chastise them by bringing them into captivity. And in 722 he did it with the northern tribes into Assyria, and in 586 he did it with the southern tribes of Israel into Babylon.

Now when this Psalm is written, it's written sometime around that year, 586 in what Israel is going through. So it's in that very early stages of that raw emotion, having experienced all this. This is when the psalmist is writing during this time period and all that they have gone through and reflecting to the Lord. Now, even though Israel was being disobedient to God, and the Lord was using this to chastise them, that doesn't okay what the Babylonians did to them. The God is also going to hold them accountable for the way they treated the Israelites. And the reason I want to say that to all of us is to really help us recognize the difficult things that we go through in life. They can happen for a gamut of reasons, and sometimes we don't always understand those reasons. Sometimes we can, like sometimes we can recognize this is difficult, and it's difficult because I made poor choices, right. And other times it could be circumstances of life, or it can be someone else coming against us. But in all those cases, we can just go through adversity. But as we're going through adversity, we also need to consider where is the heart of God? And maybe we should say more specifically when we're the ones that have been rebelling against him. Like where is the heart of God? Because sometimes our tendency is to run in this guilt and shame, lamenting over the foolishness of our own decisions.

But God, constantly through the Old Testament, reminds him of his intentions towards us. Like if I give you a verse reference, Ezekiel chapter 18, verse 32, it tells us God does not delight in the death of the wicked. Right. God's not just sitting up in heaven saying, oh, you messed up. I can't wait to get you right. I'm just going to bring my vigilante against you. That's not the heart of God. God's. God's created us in his image and being made in his image. God's desires for you to have a relationship with him. And so the circumstances in life and even the sinfulness, brokenness of this world, it should be a reminder to all of us that we're made for something greater. We're made to belong to him. And so God's desire more than anything, if the decisions of my life have become difficult because of my own foolishness, is to realize, no matter what's causing that difficulty. God's desire is for me to find him and to seek him and to walk with him. And Deuteronomy chapter 30 telling Israel, even in their disobedience he says this return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice and all that I command you today with all your heart and with all your soul. Then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you.

And he will gather you again from all the peoples, where the Lord your God has scattered you. For us as believers today, this is what the cross of Christ is saying to us, that Jesus paid for all your sins. He covered it in the cross like there's nothing you're going to add to it in your own guilt and shame to try to further that along. But to realize Jesus has covered me in his grace. And so therefore I don't need to run away from him. But as soon as I recognize that, I need to run straight to him. Now, when you're looking at Psalm 137, whatever the cause of the frustration, can we can we just stop for a minute and say, no doubt because of what Israel is going through, they're angry. They're angry because of what's happened to them. And it begs the question for us as believers, how do you deal with anger? Because sometimes as Christians, I want to say that our thoughts towards anger isn't always healthy. You know, when we think about maybe as a believer, I might think, well, anger in itself is just always wrong. And I want you to know that's not true. Right? There's there is a there is a biblical basis for having a righteous anger. Right. But I also want to say to you that I'm not telling you that to try to justify every time you've been angry, because most of the time we get angry as people and it's for the wrong reasons.

Or at least it's demonstrated in the wrong way. Sometimes when we get angry as people, we act vengeful. We have this emotional, out of control outburst. We prolong that anger into bitterness. And if we're being honest, the motivator behind it, though it might have had, quote, godly reasons in the beginning. It's about self. It's driven by pride. But. But the Bible does give a place for a righteous anger. And if I give you just one reference this morning, Ephesians chapter four, verse 26, be angry and do not sin. Alright, so there's this thought of it's okay to be angry, done in a godly way, but it's also reminding us that sometimes our tendency in that anger is not done in a godly way. Right? Be angry, but do not sin. Our tendency when we get angry is to be sinful in that anger. And so the question we should ask is, what does it look like for you and me to move through, through those that emotion of anger towards something, that frustration that builds up in a way that's honoring to the Lord. And I think for us, there's a there's a few ways. One is to acknowledge what's motivating. Is it honoring to the to the Lord and a blessing to others? Right. Or is it about destroying other other people when we're addressing our frustration, are we trying to address the wrongdoing? Are we just trying to attack someone else? Right.

So. So sometimes within us, there could be this righteous anger that wells up because we see an injustice that takes place, and that should not happen. But where it comes wrong on our behalf is that we target an individual rather than the issue. When we start to malign the character of a person, degrading the image of God in them rather than address the conflict that's been created. I mean, the Bible tells you in Ephesians chapter six, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against spiritual forces of darkness. It's recognizing that when there's conflict between us as people in a capacity, there's something deeper that's taking place there. And if it's not directed, if your focus is not directed in the right way, you'll tear one another apart rather than build one another up. I mean, James chapter four reminds us of that at the beginning of the chapter. What causes quarrels and conflicts among you? He asked that question and he says, is it not? What wars within you? And he encourages us in verse two and three, if you're not careful, you will kill one another. And he doesn't necessarily mean that literally. He's saying, we can approach it in such a way that we destroy relationship. And so he's telling us in this passage that there's a way to do this.

And when we respond that way, it's not this emotional outburst. Like when you read in the Bible the anger of the Lord. It's not like God just all of a sudden just boils over like he's some kind of volcano and erupts. Oftentimes, our anger is driven by these emotional outbursts that are they're out of control and they're not honoring to the Lord. So how do we how do we follow in a way that's not an impulse, but it's pleasing to Jesus. James chapter one, verse 19 says it like this. Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear. Slow to speak and slow to anger. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. So he tells you, look, there's a place of righteous anger when you see injustice, but don't sin. And then he says this do not let the sun go down on your anger. He's encouraging and saying, look, don't prolong anger. Prolong anger is not healthy for anybody. That's where we're bitterness takes root and it gets destructive. Now some people when they read this, they take it very literal, like some people might read this and think, oh man, I got in an argument at 5:00. Sun goes down in 30 minutes. You know, you're like trying to panic. I gotta do this Bible verse, right? But what is really encouraging you to is through the attitude of prolonged anger and the destruction it brings not only to you personally, but to relationships around you.

And then he goes on and tells you why he says this and give no opportunity to the devil. He's saying, the devil loves that you. Rather than just learning how to respond in a godly way, we just want to sit in the negativity like it's okay to recognize injustice, but to realize God calls you to so much more in this world. And if you just harbor on the injustice, it's going to make your soul bitter. And then everything that you do in this life is going to be colored through that lens, and it's going to impact your relationships that way. But to realize when terrible things happen in this world, there is a gospel that we follow in Jesus and there's a greater light. There's an antidote to the to the darkness of this world. And I'm called to walk in that rather than live as some Batman vigilante and how I respond. And so he's saying, look, don't give. Don't give the devil that foothold. That's what he wants to do, is divide and conquer us that way. But what Jesus wants to do in community is so much more beautiful. So walk with that in mind, knowing that what the devil wants to do is isolate and root in your heart this bitter focus on this thing that happened rather than the greatness of what God wants to do.

And in verse 30, he. This is why he says, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, to whom you were sealed for the day of redemption, but It's saying the Spirit of God is working in your life for something great. Don't. Don't grieve that. Don't walk against that. Don't let the devil have his foothold in that. Realize what. Anger held on to prolonged will do in your life. But. 31 let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. I mean, saying as that frustration takes root, look at all the destructive things it produces, but rather this. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ Jesus forgave you. He's helping us in verse 32. Really understand what is the antidote to the anger and the soul. And his answer really is the gospel. Forgive one another as Christ Jesus has forgiven you. It starts by recognizing who you are apart from the grace of God. To realize your own past is marred by sin. And if it wasn't for the mercy of Jesus made known in your life, you would continue to be walking that path. And so don't pretend to be better or above anyone else, but rather remind yourself of where you've come from. Start there. And what Jesus had to do in order for you to find his grace. It cost him his life and his willingness to lay himself down, that you could find freedom in him, and that then becomes the basis of our operation.

It doesn't mean we don't acknowledge wrongdoing. We should, but it helps us understand, in the midst of that wrongdoing, how to begin to take the step, the healthy step forward, rather than let the enemy have his control over our lives. Because those things that happen to us can take such rent in our heads that it dictates what we become. So we've got to acknowledge, acknowledge that before the Lord, before the root of bitterness takes its place, so that we can get to point number two, which is reorient to his purpose, reorient to his purpose. And this is critical for all of us to recognize how Satan wants to work in my heart when difficult things happen. How the anger can build in my soul when those challenges are made known. But to realize in the midst of that man, God made me for so much more, and I've let this dictate who I am and what I do. But what Jesus has called me on is so much more beautiful. And you're going to see as we look at the Psalm, this psalmist, he's going to rest in a belief which helps him develop a deeper conviction, which gives him values for his life. So he lives on mission. He doesn't let his circumstance dictate who he is. But he says this verse, for how shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? If I forget you, old Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.

Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth. If I do not remember you. If I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy. Now, at first glance, we might look at this and think, yeah, this guy's been taken as a slave into captivity against his will. And of course, he doesn't want to be in Babylon. Of course he wants to be in his homeland. Of course he's homesick. He wants to be in Jerusalem. But I want you to know what the psalmist is saying. Here is so much more than that. You know, it is true that even for us. I'll show you a passage in Hebrews that reminds us of this. But even for us, like if we're not careful, the things that happen for us can take us captive and lead us down a path that's for and for Jesus desires for us to be. That can happen physically, but it can. It can definitely happen spiritually. I mean, some of us this morning, we might be wondering down, down a road that God does not want us to walk. And now we're in a place of which you are not called to belong. And Jesus has something so much greater for your life. And here's this. The psalmist is saying this about Jerusalem, and I want you know, when you look at this word Jerusalem, this word is much deeper and richer than just the location.

Yes, he might be homesick, but Jerusalem for them was this place of covenant and promise for God's people. This is this is a place where the Messiah would fulfill all that he's given to us in the Old Testament. Like this. This is where God would make his liberation ultimately known for the exile, for all of his people. Having been isolated from a relationship with God because of the destruction of sin in our own life. Right. Jerusalem is critical for all of our faith journey and what the Messiah would do for all of us. And so he's saying, like, more than just, I want to live in a place. He's saying, this is what we're about. This location means more to me. It's about a belief in a and a conviction and the values that we carry as a people and in the mission we're living for. It's the same for us as a church. So many things in this world can distract us from the gift it is to know God and live for his glory. So anytime we go through something that might rock our boat, whether it's a difficult thing or it could even be things of success. To understand each of those things, it can disorient us from the from the goodness of who God is. So we've got to reorient ourselves. And it's not to say those things that happen to us don't matter.

They certainly do. But we've got to put them into perspective of the greatness of who God is so that we can get to point number three. Let me give you this next, next one, I'll give you three. Even in the book of Hebrews and talking about the great saints of the Old Testament says this. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them, and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who seek thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. So he's saying, in a way, we've we're all exiles, right? The brokenness of this world reminds us that this isn't our home. We were made for something more. And so if they verse 15, if they had been thinking of that land for which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country. That is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he is prepared for them a city. And so here in the Old Testament, it's acknowledging, saints of the past have all gone through difficult things, but in those difficulties, they always would reorient themselves to the greater calling that God had on their lives. Every once in a while someone will ask me this question.

This isn't going to sound godly for a minute, but don't worry, I'll try to fix it. Okay? Every once in a while, someone will ask me the question if I knew now if I knew back then everything I knew now, that's the way they said. If I knew back, back 20 years ago. Everything I know now, what I planted, what I planted this church and. And sometimes I feel bad how quick I answer that question because I just quickly fired back, no, no, I would not like no. And I know that sounds terrible, right? Like how why would he why would he not do that? If you love Jesus, you should want to do Jesus things. And if he called you to be, a pastor or a church planner or whatever, you should want to do that. Right. And like, yes, that is true. Right? That is true. But I want you to know this and maybe you can find some grace for me in this. If you knew everything that was going to happen to you 20 years ago today, would you have walked the road you've walked? Would you carry the weight of all? I mean, you think about the challenges of life and all the circumstances that you going through. If you knew every adversity that you were going to face with a step in front of you, could you bear that weight? Would you want to bear that weight? I mean, for me, this is the way I want to treat it.

And don't worry, I'm not telling you I'm quitting, okay? I don't have it. I don't have any intention of that. But here's the way I want to treat that circumstance. I just want to say, like God, I know sometimes the journey with you is we go through adversity and sometimes we go through success. But here's what I want to trust. That when I wake up tomorrow, you're going to meet me and give me the strength to sustain. Right. And certainly, if the Lord would lead me to, let's say, plant another church, and I don't have plans to leave. I want to be faithful to do that and trust you to have the strength. But if I'm just thinking in terms of all that has happened over the last 20 years, no, that is a lot, right? I don't even want to think about all of that. I want to entrust it into his hands and just say, Lord, you're enough. You're enough. And that's what the Hebrews are saying in this chapter. It's like sometimes when we get in this place of anger and it takes root in our life, that's what we're doing. It's saying, I'm enough. I can handle this. I have the strength for this. I'm going to root at my soul. I'm going to let it become bitterness in my life, and I'm going to control the destiny. But rather, where we need to be is number three, which is pray and turn to the Lord.

Pray and turn to the Lord. I want to be clear in saying this that I'm not saying first pray and then turn to God. I'm saying both of these things need to happen simultaneously, that your prayer is an expression of trusting God. It's not saying, God, I'm going to tell you everything I want, and I'll turn to you and you tell me. Tell me what you want. This is saying no, no, no. God. I'm pausing in this moment and I am entrusting this to you. God lead me. God, you're big enough. And this is why it's critical for us as Christians, I think, to stay engaged in God's Word. When we go through the ups and downs of life, we need reminded of who he truly is. Teach me your nature. Lord, show me and remind me again and again that you're enough. That, Lord, is Romans. Chapter 12, verse 19 says, vengeance is yours, not mine. And what you're going to do is far greater than anything I can do myself. When you look at this Psalm, this is what the psalmist is saying. In fact, when it comes to praying and turning to the Lord, there's a man by the name of Samuel Chadwick. He was a minister in the mid 1800s. He died in the early 1900s. He said this. The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from praying.

He fears nothing from prayer. Less studies, prayer less work and prayer less religion. He laughs at our toil. He mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. And that's what Psalm 137 is. He's coming to this, the Lord in this raw emotional state. And look at what he says in verse seven. Remember, O Lord, remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, lay it bare. Lay it bare down to its foundation. Old daughter of Babylon. Babylon doomed to be destroyed. So he's saying, God, I'm just laying this at your feet. I'm not incapable of fixing this, only you can. And so, Lord, I'm just laying this on your feet saying, please remember the Edomites as they mocked us and what the Babylonians did to us. Lord, I'm turning this into your sovereign hands, asking you, Lord, to have control. Lord, allow you to have your way with this. And then the psalmist gives this incredibly challenging verse. He says it like this. Blessed shall he be who repays you with what you've done to us. Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rocks. And you think about what the psalmist has gone through. And the loss, maybe, of even their child. And now they're saying to the Lord, basically. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. But I want you to know he's not saying I'm taking this vengeance.

I'm going vigilante. I'm trusting myself. What he's saying is, Lord, whatever you desire to do in this moment, remember this. Remember what's happened to us. God. Remember. God, I want to know that you cared. This is a lifting it up before God and entrusting it in his hands. And this is a challenging verse. I mean, maybe we could even say for us in a very sobering way. What he's saying is one day you're going to meet God, and God will take into account the things that you've done wrong. And God's far greater at executing justice than I am. And he specifically sang it by reminding them of what they did to the Israelites. You killed our children. Guys, can I just say, rather than cast stones at other people? Can we just take this on for a minute and just think about our own selves as maybe enemies of God, that one day you will meet God face to face, and you will give an account to the Lord for the things that you've done. And what will you do in that moment? Because God's justice is perfect, and we've all of us have done something against others, but ultimately we've done something against the Lord, who is the creator of all good things, and especially people made in his image. What do we do with that? You know, when I look at this Psalm and I'll give you an answer to that, don't worry.

But when I look at this, at this Psalm and I come to the end, I'm like, man, I gotta tell you guys like I, my goal at some point, or at least I think you do. I want to preach through all 150 psalms. Right? I hope that Psalm 137 will not be one that I repeat. This is a challenging psalm, right? I just want to take this psalm and say, yeah, it's challenging. Let's put it on the shelf and say, we did it. You know, we're going through all of God's Word. I mean, you've been a part of ABC over the last 20 years. I counted this up this past week. We have gone through 20 of the 27 New Testament books and some of the Old Testament books. We've almost done all of the New Testament like, yes, that's great. I want to go through all of God's Word together in community. That's beautiful. Psalm 137, though, to be honest, is one of those Psalms that's so raw emotionally. I'm like let's go. Let's just put let's read a positive one next week. Right. Let's just put this one aside and I just want to leave it alone until when you read the New Testament, you realize Jesus actually doesn't let us leave it alone. When you get to the final moments of Jesus's life on earth before he's crucified, and in Luke chapter 19, Jesus, not wanting us to leave it alone, says this.

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, if you even you had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it's hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and him you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground. You and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you. Jesus, reflecting on Psalm 137, looks at Jerusalem and he weeps over it. It's interesting when Jesus reflects on this, because in Psalm 137, Israel's looking back to what Babylon did to them. Reflecting on that. But here in Luke 19, Jesus isn't looking backwards. He's looking forward and he's saying, Israel. This is going to happen to you over and over again. And he's really thinking about the time Titus is going to come in, conquered Jerusalem, destroy the temple, and the temple has been destroyed since 70 A.D. there is no Jewish temple in Israel now because of this. But Jesus is thinking about that moment. He's looking forward. And you know what's what's incredible about this is when you read this passage, you realize this. This is the time when Jesus is being betrayed and he's weeping over the city, the very people that are about to betray him and ultimately crucify him and his concern rather than be for himself his concern rather than say, I can't wait to get you, his concern is for their well-being and saying you don't know what ultimately is to bring peace to your heart.

You've completely missed me. And so when you think about Jesus and reflecting on this, he's saying a couple of things to us. He's really helping us think in terms of what it means to be the Babylonian in the story and what it means to be the Israelite, because sometimes, to be honest, we do behave like the Babylonians. We act with this vengeful, vindictive attitude that's not only destructive to us, but to those around us. And in those moments, we need grace. God, we need your peace. Lord, please forgive me. Don't let me be in the path of your wrath. But, Lord, I repent. I'm sorry. And there are other times when things have been done wrong against us. And in those moments, we also need to know that God, you are also perfect and your justice. Lord help me. Help me to understand the depth of your justice and your love for me, made known in that way. And what Jesus is saying is, if you want that picture for your life, if you want to discover where that peace is made known in both his grace, in his justice, Jesus is acknowledging here in the story it's the cross. It's my cross made known. It's where the grace of God poured out for your life.

And the justice of the father comes against the son so that his perfect justice could be made known. And in that we could walk in freedom and saying that no matter what happens, I know my God is good, and I know he's going to work it all out, because the evidence of all of that is in the cross, and I don't have to carry this weight. And there are some things in this world I can control, but there are a lot of things I can't and those things that I can't. I need to rest. And one who is sovereign, that tells me he can. And Psalm 137 is one of those psalms that not only means something in the Old Testament, but also in the New Testament to help us realize in the fullness of who Jesus is, as he's been made known in our life. There is healing for the soul because of what Christ has done, and through all of it we can acknowledge our anger. God. We can be reoriented to a greater purpose. Knowing our God is greater than the circumstances of this world, and we can turn it over to his hands, knowing that what God wants to do is far greater than anything I can do in my own strength.