7.15.2007
4: suffering
Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat down, yea, we wept
When we remembered Zion.
2 We hung our harps
Upon the willows in the midst of it.
3 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!”
4 How shall we sing the LORD’s song
In a foreign land?
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget its skill!
6 If I do not remember you,
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—
If I do not exalt Jerusalem
Above my chief joy.
7 Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom
The day of Jerusalem,
Who said, “Raze it, raze it,
To its very foundation!”
8 O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed,
Happy the one who repays you as you have served us!
9 Happy the one who takes and dashes
Your little ones against the rock!
***
v8-9
so much hatred, violence, desperation and vengeance...
how should we respond when we come across such passages?
have we any idea how or what that feels?
*sit, be quiet, feel the terror and pain of it.
share their sorrow, all that un-containable emotions.*
Church is not meant to be a fantasy world.
Church is a place to help people face reality, and cope with it.
To come before God to recognize, to complain, to lament, to protest...
of this world of suffering and pain.
Psalm 137 is a cry for justice.
WILL this day ever come?
Yes! New Jerusalem. New Heaven. New Earth.
Christianity is a faith that faces the reality of pain and sorrow.
Jesus Christ came to bear all the sufferings for us,
laying aside all his immunity to pain.
What greater love is there?
Words don't just mean things,
words DO things!
If we don't do, then we haven't entered into the reality of the word.
***
God meant it when He said He loves us all.
He demonstrated this by sending His only Child
to suffer like one of us and to die in our place.
He did it.
Have we? Are we doers of the Word?
Or mere listeners and big-talkers?
am i...?
***
Posted by jing at 7/15/2007 09:22:00 AM
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