LESSONS FROM BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY

SCRIPTURE MEDITATIONS BY W.F. BELL

Many of us in the modern church often feel like the Jews who were carried captive to Babylon (Psalm 137). There, under the divine chastisement, they hung their once-tuned harps upon the willows in that desolate land. Their anti-Jehovah captors mocked them (adding to their misery), requesting of them a song of mirth. But, note their sad reply: "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" It was impossible, since the once-favored nation was separated from their beloved Jerusalem. "Better to hang their harps on willows than profane them to the service of idols," said C. H. Spurgeon.

We too weep in the modern church and are in mourning as we remember our beloved Zion! How jealous we all should be for the honor and prosperity of Christ's church! We long, with those ancient Jews, for the restoration of songs of praise to the eternal Yahweh! We care nothing for fleshly praise and worldly applause in the "trendy" church of our day. And we too plead, as those ancient castaways, for God to truly arise in retribution, casting out our enemies. Anti-christs abound in our day, but not too many for our holy God to "cast out." But only real, heaven-sent revival will ever conquer our foes and brighten our days!

The world of the ungodly absolutely hates true religion (the gospel of Christ) -- and God's people must hate all false religion. There can be no compromise, and we must ever be praying, "Remember, O Lord." Our hearts may be heavy with the burlesque show in the modern church, but we must never stop crying out to God for Him to arise! When the prophets spoke to the nation, even in their darkest hours, the people were encouraged by the prospects of coming revival. In the very next Psalm, we are told that we must continue to be seekers and worshipers of our great God, no matter the difficulty of our circumstances: "I will praise Thee with my whole heart; before the gods will I sing praise unto Thee. I will worship toward Thy holy temple, and praise Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and for Thy truth; for Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy name" (Psalm 138:1-2). Those are strong, positive declarations, for in the Lord Jesus Christ alone do we have hope!

QUOTE FOR THE DAY
"We must rend our own clothes if we wear the garment of God." Vance Havner