We Hung Our Harps (When Your Song is Silenced)

“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?”

(Psalm 137:1-4, KJV)

 

I want to weep for them. Their anguish is raw, palpable…heart-wrenching.

A people once embraced by the favor of God and blessed before all nations. Now, they find themselves debased and enslaved by their enemy. 

Far from home. Paralyzed with fear. Identity stripped.

Their captors taunting them with the very source of their former strength.

“Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”

But their voices were silent. 

“They hung their harps…”

The very instrument used to praise God, a wellspring of comfort, and a connection to their identity as a people. 

With heads hung in despair, they walk by the flourishing, green trees that line the majestic Euphrates River before them…feeling completely defeated and abandoned by God.

That’s exactly how I feel right now, you may be saying.

No words are sufficient enough to express the anguish of a broken soul.

Wrongs done to us. Being taken advantage of. Those who look into our tear-filled eyes–and walk away.

“For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.” (Isaiah 54:7, KJV)

You may not see or feel him, but God waits quietly in the shadows. In his time–not ours.

Deliverance will come.

Even in the iron grip of an oppressive enemy, God’s people possessed the instrument of praise but had no heart to use it. The powerful anointing crushed because the people languished in mourning. 

Imagine singing songs of Zion that boast about the defeat of the enemy while you sit crushed beneath that enemy’s foot?

“How shall we sing…?” Their hearts cried.

But…what if they had sang…even in the prison camp of their captors?

We christen our lowest, darkest moments as being a “desert experience,” but here we find God’s people standing by the life-giving Euphrates River with its beautiful willow (poplar) trees full of birdsong, surrounded by a thriving landscape that pulsated with life and energy. 

Maybe you face enemies right now: bitter disappointment, your body wracked with pain, grief and depression, crippling fear…

The enemy slips in close and whispers mocking words, “Sing the songs of Zion, child of God. You are hopelessly bound—where is your song now?”

And your voice falls silent, your harp dangling limply at your side, brooding thoughts of hanging that harp on the willow and just walking away from it all. You’re done…

Not yet.

You still retain the instrument of your praise in your possession. Lift the harp, let your fingers drift across the strings, bringing them to life with song. Let your voice ripple over the other captives that share this place with you. Let them hear your praise in spite of your crippling circumstance. Sing the songs of Zion in the very face of your enemies…even as they taunt you. 

And watch what God will do.