Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Psalm 137:1-9 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!” Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us. Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

Memory is mentioned five times in these nine verses of Psalm 137. The words remember and forget both allude to memories either being kept or trying to get rid of them. Memory can open old wounds making them feel new again. The pain resurfaces (v. 1–4) in the recollection in the Jewish exile. Sitting was the official position for mourning, and the Jewish exiles felt and acted like mourners at a funeral. This is mentioned early in the passage. Jews in exile in Babylon often gather along the rivers Tigris and the Euphrates. The Jews gathered by them because they needed water for their religious rituals (Acts 16:13). They refused to play their songs for the pagan Babylonians as they were sacred to the Jews. Similarly today, the irony of gospel choirs singing Amazing Grace for pagan masses that neither know or worship God nor the importance of the words of that song is not lost on me. Regardless, the exiled Jews had lost everything but God and their lives, and being normal people, they were deeply pained in their hearts. The lament of love lost. To lose something so costly that it feels as if it wounded you. It in fact did if you feel it that deeply.

Memories can bring pain, real physical pain and the pain does not go away when we try to bury them. This type of denial usually makes things worse. The fact that the exiles could talk about those painful memories in this episodic psalm indicates that they were facing them honestly and learning how to process the pain in a mature way. It takes time for broken hearts to heal. The healing that processing painful memories creates leads to the formation of character. Sometimes we have to lose things to really appreciate them. In this stalwart formation of character we see a fertile ground for a person or people’s faith to be cultivated.

The Jews had lost privileges of being citizens of Jerusalem, God’s holy city. They had lost the splendor of Solomon’s Temple. How often have we lost in similar manner? We lost things like our marriages, our homes, a loved one, a prized possession, our faith and even our dignity. We lost just like the Jews being patronized by the Babylonians to play their, “Songs of Zion.” Yet as we know, the Jews would and will be restored. They did not lose their God, he was and is always there/here. They wept at the recollection of privileges which they had lost by reason of their non-appreciation of them. They were removed from their country and their home because of their sins. Do we think we are any better than the exiled Jews? Think again. The Jews certainly were thinking about it…remembering their loss even in the midst of their pain. Yet, this did not stay their permanent condition. They healed and they recovered. They moved on and again thrived. We need to learn from that. We need to also realize that behind this it is God restoring them. Because the Jews did not appreciate what they had and because they didn’t appreciate God Himself, He sent them away. Do we have exiles like this in our lives too due to disobedience?

It is also interesting to note that the Babylonian lands were strange to the Jews who had been exiled there. This is similar to the Christian who isn’t really at home in the world either (Philippians 3:20). Similarly, God will often have us well outside our comfort zones. We are strangers in strange lands in strange situations doing things unfamiliar to us. I suggest this is to keep us sharp and dependant on him for spiritual sustenance, learning and faith.  On earth the Christian feels himself to be an exile—distant from his Father’s home—distant from near and beloved connections and friends who have made it home before him. True, he has many comforts but still this is not his rest; not his true spiritual birthplace; not the true condition for which his faculties and affections were originally designed. No, they were made for something much more lofty and holy. There are times in which his hope is full of immortality, and he has bright glimpses of the better place in his hours of faith and devotion. Then his faith wavers and he feels he is a stranger and a pilgrim adrift far from home without a friend in the world. He spurns his worldly yoke and kicks against the chain that holds him down.

Since coming into the faith I have changed jobs twelve times. Before that I had only had three jobs in 20 years. Do the math, in 15 years I have changed jobs 12 times. I believe this was intentional exile from employers for the glory of God. I adapted well and quickly. With each job change I have adapted faster. Dare I say I think I’m getting used to it... the chaos. Do I believe I deserved this much shuffling in my life? Does it matter if I did? What God wills, God wills. I obey. I’m sure much of it is probably exile for sin, yes. How much, who cares? The truth is, any sin is too much. I do what I can but I know God did it all anyway. I need only accept that, obey and perform the tasks set before me until I am called home like my predecessors.

In the end, God doesn’t accidently punish people or send trials their way for a laugh. They serve deliberate purposes as lessons, punishment or warnings. The designs of God are sometimes worked through wicked men as in the case of the Babylonians and Jews. Bad situations do not justify sinning more or offer excuse to such men to continue in their errant behaviors down their errant paths. You will be forgiven your sins if you repent but sin still has consequences. Forgiveness from God does not exempt you from the consequences of your deeds. The Babylonian captivity exemplified this with clarity to the Jews in Psalm 137 and should do so for us vicariously. The Jews were not carried into Babylon without God’s permission. God knew and allowed it.

In truth the pain in suffering and exile accomplishes its intended goals for the Jews and us today. It makes us focus on what matters. The Babylonians did the work of God unwittingly. They had no thought of working out the purposes of God in so doing, but simply of fulfilling their own proud and lawless designs. The captivity and exile were invariably annulled by God. And did he allow Babylon to go unpunished? No, of course not, they suffered the same fate as the Jews albeit much more severe and permanent. To this day Babylon (Iraq) is still essentially desolate. It would never rise to its former glory. When God’s hour of retribution strikes, strange fingers appeared in the royal banquet hall and the letters of doom with appalling distinctness were etched upon the wall, even as the enemy was at the city gates… “…in that night was Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans slain,” and Babylon was a kingdom no longer and Israel once again became one. God will take away but if you repent…you will be restored. If you take things for granted there is a good possibility it can and will be taken away. Appreciate things when you have them. That includes people in your life. That won't always be the case. Its all blessing and gifts from the Lord. Never take them for granted because the minute you do, they might be gone. Familiarity breeds contempt...even for God. If He is not approached properly with reverence it ends poorly for everyone that tried.

Regardless of how Mr. Fox chooses to conduct himself around King Lion, there is one constant truth. King Lion is very powerful, dangerous and could easily take Mr. Fox’s life. ~ “The Fox and the Lion, Aesop’s Fables”