TEXT:
PSALM 137: 1-4
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we
wept, when we remembered Zion. We
hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
For there they that carried us away captive required
of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, sing us one
of the songs of Zion.
How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange
land?
The lord created us to declare His glory in praise and
exaltation. God delights in His children making a joyful noise to Him.
Regardless of what you are going through, it is
mandatory for you to give God your genuine praise and exaltation.
Psalm 150:6 says “Let
everything that has breath praise the Lord.” The Lord did not say “Let everyone that is rich praise the Lord.
He did not say let everyone that has achieved everything in life praise the
Lord.”
Therefore, as long as you still have the breath of
life that He breathed on you, you must sing and exalt the giver of life.
The scripture says in John 10:10 that the thief comes
to steal, to kill and to destroy. Satan uses discouragement and hopelessness to
still to kill and to destroy people’s praise life.
In our text, the children of Israel were taken into
captivity in Babylon. They were so depressed and down that they could not open
their mouth to sing to their maker again. They were so heavy and down casted
that they hung their musical instrument. They wept when they remembered Zion
the place of God that they left. Zion is a place of glory, peace, comfort and
freedom. All these they were enjoying before they disobeyed God and God gave
them to the Babylonians to enslave them. The Babylonians were mocking them that
they should sing their Lord’s song for them, but the children of Israel were so
down and confused that they asked how they can sing the Lord’s song in a
strange land of hopelessness, depression and confusion.
Satan is so crafty that he would make people not to
see any good things in their lives that deserve praising God for. Talking about
“strange land”, what does it mean? A
strange land is a place of discomfort, a place of dejection, a place of
failure, affliction, stagnation, delayed progress, fruitlessness, hopelessness
and so on.
I called these situations “a strange land” because
that is not the plan and purpose of God for us.
The plan and purpose of God for our lives can be found
in the book of Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the thoughts that I think
towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of good and not of evil; to give you a
future and a hope.”
Having given us this promise, God did not assure us a
stress free life (John 16:33).
Peradventure you found yourself in a strange land, do
not stop praising the Lord. You should be able to sing and dance to God in
anticipation that you will arrive at the Promised Land, because it is sure you
will not die in the strange land.
The Lord promised the Israelites that they will dwell
in the Promised Land. They did not get to the Promised Land without going
through the wilderness.
In the same vein, the Lord has promised you that you
will live in the Promised Land, but at a point in your life, you will find
yourself in the strange land while you are on your way to the Promised Land.
The people that were taken into captivity in Babylon
asked “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”
Many of us are at this stage in our lives- asking “why
do I need to sing to God? What is so praise worthy in my life?
The lord is encouraging you with this message today
that it is okay to lose EVERYTHING, but DO NOT LOSE YOUR PRAISE! Your victory,
deliverance, healing, success and breakthrough are in your praise.
I pray that the Lord will deliver us from any strange
land that we may be in. he will take us to Zion a place of peace and comfort in
Jesus name. Can I hear amen?
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