They Wept For the Past… We Press On
I'd like to turn to Psalm 137 this week. It was written just after the Israelites returned home from exile in Babylon, and they were looking back on their time in exile. And it starts with the words “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.”
The Jews in Exile
The people of God had been taken away from the place that they loved, the home that they loved, the life that they loved, and were prisoners basically in Babylon under different type of rulers. And they sat at the river and wept as they thought about their previous life. In a sense, it reminds me of what we were going through in lockdown and during the worst of COVID 19. Sitting, weeping, remembering the good old days when we used to go to church and worship.
Zion represented the worship of the Israelite people. It was the spiritual center of their universe! They remembered how wonderful it was to be able to gather as the people of God and live a life of worship in that place. And now they were in captivity and they sat and wept.
The Christians in Exile
But interestingly, if we compare the Israelites in captivity to the disciples or the apostles in captivity in the book of Acts, there seems to be a difference. And we're going to explore that this week because the early Christians also considered themselves exiles. They were living under Roman rule and they believed in Jesus where the Jews didn't. And so they felt very much like they were captives in a strange land. Yet, instead of weeping about the things that used to be, they pressed on! In the knowledge that God was doing something new, and through Jesus, there was new life for all.
There's this contrast between Psalm 137 - the Jews in Exile; and the New Testament - Christians in exile. We are also Christians in exile, living in a godless world, really. And I want to say that even though there will be times where we might sit by the river and weep when we remember the times where God seemed more present like the early Christians, we can stand up in faith.
Paul’s Way of Looking Forward
In fact, some of Paul's most famous words in Philippians 3 say this, verse 13: “One thing I do, forgetting what is behind but straining towards what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
So, friends, you can sit by the river and weep for what was, or like Paul you can forget what is behind. You can leave the past in the past and strain on towards what is ahead, pressing on towards the goal that God has called you towards.
The choice is yours.
