WHEN YOU JUST WANT TO CRY (Psalm 137)

Every song is not a jubilant song. Every day is not an easy day, and every memory is not a pleasant memory.

Psalm 137 has a distinctly different tone from its predecessor. Psalm 136 was historical in nature, with one verse after another containing the same glorious truth about the mercy of God.

As we read Psalm 137, we still know that His mercy endures, but in this historical psalm, the emphasis is on brokenness. It is about the humbling trials the people of God had to go through during their Babylonian captivity.

Verses 1-2: “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.”

Do you see it? Here they were, far from home as captives in a foreign land, with what seemed like very little to sing about. So they just sat down and cried.

Did you ever have a day when you thought you could do nothing but weep? God’s people weep just like anyone else. Just being a Christian does not exclude you from being sad or disappointed. You will have difficulties. The difference between your difficulties and those of some other people is that you have the Lord with you.

So maybe you are heartbroken about something today or, like the children of Israel in this psalm, you are looking to the past and remembering. That is really the emphasis of Psalm 137.

Verses 3-4: “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?”

I was reminded of Proverbs 25:20. “As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon nitre, so is he that singeth songs to an heavy heart.” In other words, when people are having a hard time, that is not the time to tell them to cheer up or that they will get over it. That is not the time to force them to put on a happy face. This verse is considered as cruel as taking someone’s coat in winter.

Vinegar, when applied to nitre, will literally dissolve it and make it useless. It would have been just as useless to tell someone weeping by the river in Babylon just to cheer up.

Verses 5-6: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.” Again, there is the emphasis on remembering.

It is often our memories that bring about our greatest heartache. We think of our failures, what could have been, or what someone did to us. We tend to dwell on some great tragedy or what was lost. Memory can be a great blessing, but it also can be a great curse if it is not yielded to God.

If you are living in your past today, you are going to be a very sad human being. That is why the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:13 about “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”

This brings us in Psalm 137 to verses 7-9 and a definite shift in emphasis.

“Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.”

This is a reference to the fact that judgment is coming to God’s people, and in the end, He will always do what is right.

If you just sit by the river in Babylon, you’ll weep for the rest of your life. If you spend all of your time thinking about what was lost and left behind in Jerusalem, you are going to stay in your discouragement.

What did the psalmist do at the end of Psalm 137 that is different?

He prayed

Sometimes in our personal conversations and social media posts, we are just talking to one another. We are just commiserating together, perhaps gaining pity but certainly not gaining strength. It is when you turn the conversation heavenward that strength comes.

The psalmist ultimately did the right thing. Instead of just talking about the circumstances to everyone else, he began talking to God personally. As the great hymn so famously proclaims, “Take it to the Lord in prayer.”

Notice the change in terminology throughout the psalm. In verses 1-6, it was all about what the psalmist remembered, but verse 7 begins, “Remember, O Lord.” He began to concentrate not only on his own memories but also on the fact that God has a perfect memory. You don’t have to ask God to remember; He just will. The only thing He does not remember is your sin because He chooses to forget that.

The Lord knows what you have gone through. He knows what wasn’t right and how to make it right. God always remembers. There have been so many days when I forgot the Lord, but He has never forgotten me.

The same goes for you. He has never failed you or forsaken you, and He is not about to start today.

When you are sitting by the river in Babylon, weeping and remembering what could have been or should have been…the best thing you can do is talk to God about it. Turn your conversation into prayer. Then concentrate on the fact that the Lord has an even better memory than you do.

Spurgeon said, “By some strange perversity, we tend to remember what we should forget and forget what we should remember.” Even when looking at the past, we seem to forget the good things and focus on the evil. But the Lord, who has a perfect memory, knows exactly where we have been, what we have gone through, and what needs to be done about it.

At some point, you are going to have to place yourself and your circumstances back in the Lord’s hands consciously and say, “God, I give this to You.” Give Him your struggle today. Give Him your enemies and your tears.

The Bible says in Psalm 56:8, “Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle.” What does that mean? It means that He cares. He knows where you are and has His eyes on you. His ears are open to your prayers.

Psalm 137 is not the last song. The children of Israel came out of captivity. They did not stay by the river weeping for the rest of their lives. They returned to Jerusalem with a jubilant song, full of worship and praise with adoration for their God.

You are coming out as well. There will be joy on the other side. May you strive today to remember the Lord and know that He remembers you.