Psalm 137
Day 137: Be blessed
There are some periods of your life when you have to fight for your blessing. For some, every morning they have to make a decision to choose the path of focusing on blessing and not that of feeling cursed. This beautiful Psalm shows us “how we can sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land”, v4. I see 3 keys for blessing. They show us how possible it is to live in a broken body every day; how we can survive the disappointment, the anger and the grief; and above all, it shows us how we can change the environment, whether that be the sound that is coming from a home, a church or the place we work in. But before we see them let us look at the environment that this Psalm focuses on. It is set in the time of Ezekiel and it is worth taking the time to read the verses in that book mentioned.
There is a river of regret, of being in a place you are not meant to be, v1.
There is a river of being overwhelmed, Ezekiel 3:15.
There is a river of the glory of God departing, Ezekiel 10:15-18
Yet even in the river of exile …
It can be a place of heaven opening, Ezekiel 1:1
Of visions of God, Ezekiel 1:1
Of hearing the Word of God, Ezekiel 1:3
Of having the hand of God upon you, Ezekiel 1:3
How do we turn the river of regret into a river of God?
Through 3 simple keys that look the same but involve discipline and choice every day:
v 5 “forget” not. KEEP CHOOSING THE LORD.
v 6 “remember”. STIR HIM WITHIN YOU.
v 6 “consider”. THINK OF HIM THE MOST.
As I write this, I think of a group of Christian friends who are changing their workplace into a river of God through these 3 keys. Wherever you are, whatever the circumstance, you can do this too.
Choose blessing, stay blessed.
Missions Paul 