Our Babylon

'By the rivers of babylon,
there we sat down.
Ye-eah we wept,
when we remembered Zion'

is actually Psalm 137, written when Jews were taken captive as slaves to Babylon.

Psalms 137:1-4 reads,

'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?

How many of us tonight are seated by the river of Babylon? Not because we have been taken captive, but because we let ourselves wander into captivity? How many of us friends, would weep tonight if we would remember the days of Zion; would we weep if we compared the days when we rejoiced in the light and glory of God’s presence with where we are today?

Why is it that the Children of God are so prone to wander? It is a fact that I hate, yet it is still the truth. Just like lambs in the wilderness we think we are just taking a few little steps away from the fold, we are just going to walk at a little bit of a distance for a short time, from the Shepherd. But soon we have our eyes off of him and we end up miles from home, miles from the one we love. Lost and hungry in the old sinful world.

And oh how cold and how dark it is out there on the banks of the river of Babylon; in the wilderness of this world. And how cruel are the princes of that place. They tempt you to wander, they entice you to stray; and when they have you out of the fold they begin to mock you. "Sing to us a song of Zion! Preach to us the word of Zion! Speak the testimony of Zion". But how shall we sing in that foreign land? How can we do anything but despair.

In the Babylon of sin our harps are hung upon the willow tree. Our shouts have long become whispers. Our feasts have become famine. The fellowship is deserted, our bible neglected, our prayers silenced and the work halted. Oh the dust that soon falls upon the altar.

How sad it is to be on the banks of that river, when home seems like a million miles away. What drives men to forsake the gladness of Zion?

In Christian faith, this Psalm means a lot for us.

'God’s children are so often forgetful children. The ox and the donkey remember their master, but we so often forget ours. You can raise an animal and feed it a little, and show it a little affection and it will love you and obey you and remain faithful to you until death. Some will give their life to serve and protect you'

Most humans are off to their ways. They forget God in their leisure and comfort. We all live in a Babylon as we remain captive to sins, pleasures and anarchism of the world.