Have you ever thought—

When we were younger in the faith, not knowing how hard life can be as we begin our fresh new start with Jesus with a new positive outlook for living life with Jesus; our beings immediately are attacked and marred by our unbelieving friends who say and do things that hurt deeply.  Our new lives in Christ makes more sensitive to all that is bad as we seek the goodness of God.

Not knowing what to pray concerning these challenges; our hearts to break. Our words to God may feel awkward and may even sound weak and powerless, even vindictive as we grieve over the hurt our lost friends and family have dealt to us because they want us to return to being more like them. We seek justice because we know God can deliver it—but we seek justice in ways we think He should.  Hence, the awkwardness of our prayers.

But here’s the real truth of prayer:  The power of prayer is in the One who hears it and not the one who says it.  Our prayers DO make a difference.  For us and those who hurt us!  God listens to every word and knows our hearts with direction.  Perhaps this is why Jesus taught us to pray for our enemies who hurt us?

God wants us to hear from us and does not care about proper, churched words and phrases with fanciful words with an eloquent delivery!  He is looking at our hearts, so speak plainly from the heart and be honest.  Sincere, committed hearts are what God is looking over the earth to find—and help!  “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9

The Psalmist is awkwardly lamenting over the loss of Jerusalem to barbaric Babylon. It would be similar to hoodlums, thieves, and murderers coming into your church with torches and spears to kill everyone while setting fire to the building where we gather to worship God.  (In some parts of the world, this still occurs! Pray for the persecuted church!) Those barbarians did not kill, they took captive as their slaves.

Remember the “good ol days” of living in Jerusalem, the Psalmist wants justice—and prays honestly and sincerely to God for Him to act in the same ways the barbarians acted toward them.  That’s why the last verse shocks our senses but it is there because that is a description of what happened to God’s people who were taken into captivity and forced to march to Babylonia to be slaves—until God brought them out.

We understand then how we can get caught up in using the right prayer words which is confusing to hearts that have been devasted by life circumstances. In the middle of it all—remember!  Remember God knows and is already working on behalf of those who hearts are committed to Him.  It is completely okay to pour out our joys, fears, concerns, and requests using whatever words come to mind from hearts who long for His help and direction. He hears and will provide what we need with comfort for us—all because of His great love.

Psalm 137, The Message

^1-3 Alongside Babylon’s rivers
    we sat on the banks; we cried and cried,
    remembering the good old days in Zion.
Alongside the quaking aspens
    we stacked our unplayed harps;
That’s where our captors demanded songs,
    sarcastic and mocking:
    “Sing us a happy Zion song!”

^4-6 Oh, how could we ever sing God’s song
    in this wasteland?
If I ever forget you, Jerusalem,
    let my fingers wither and fall off like leaves.
Let my tongue swell and turn black
    if I fail to remember you,
If I fail, O dear Jerusalem,
    to honor you as my greatest.

^7-9 God, remember those Edomites,
    and remember the ruin of Jerusalem,
That day they yelled out,
    “Wreck it, smash it to bits!”
And you, Babylonians—ravagers!
    A reward to whoever gets back at you
    for all you’ve done to us;
Yes, a reward to the one who grabs your babies
    and smashes their heads on the rocks!

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

History tells us that Babylon was able to attack and seize power over Jerusalem because God’s people had failed to listen to Him, despite all the warnings from the prophets!  Sometimes our troubles and trials come from not paying attention to God’s warnings and signposts along the way to “guard our hearts”, “watch over our hearts”, “keep your eyes on Jesus”, with the direction to “have the mind of Christ”, “seeking God first” and letting the “peace of Christ rule our hearts”, so that we won’t fall into the temptations of evil.  Temptations are pretty easy to spot and incredibly easy to fall for when we feel we are invincible. 

Ways we can fall for temptations (all that is not of God);

• We spend more time obtaining and worshiping our stuff more that we worship our God who provides all we need.
• We look to others for recognition and praise instead of focusing all our praise on God.
• We look right to left, seeking who to please in order to get what we want instead of looking up to God for direction with thoughts of pleasing Him alone.
• We give all we have to obtain all we want; only to find at the end of day that Jesus is all we need.
• We see what our neighbor posses and enjoys and decide we must have an even better model for all to see and envy.

There are many temptations begin small and grow larger until we eventually fall flat on our faces.  James gets right to the point concerning temptations of evil;

“Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.” James 1:13-15, MSG

Avoiding the daily temptations of this world begins with surrender to God with all that is within us, seeking His pleasing and perfect will for us. God does not hide His best for us but brings to Light all that is good from Him in hearts ready to receive Him.  Only God is Good.  Paul’s words to the Romans gives all of us practical ways to seek God first;

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”—Paul, Romans 12:1-2, MSG

“Seek God first”, says Jesus, and all these other things will be added to your lives! Those “other things” are the character traits of God we need to develop as children of God, created in the image of God! Often Jesus would leave the group of followers, to talk with the Father God.  As soon as Jesus heard from the Father, something significant would happen. “For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken.”—Jesus, John 12:49

And concerning the Enemy, the prince of darkness in the world; “I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.”—Jesus, John 14:30-31

With Jesus as our Overcomer; Satan has no hold over us! In fact, Satan flees when believers are on their knees, praying in Jesus Name, for God’s will and direction!

To be like Jesus, we pray to the Father God, in Jesus Name, for “what’s next” with loving, trusting, joyful, obedient hearts;

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!”—Romans 8:15-17

Lord,

Thank you for this psalm of lament that led us to the other side of your glory!  Lord, I give myself to you as an offering today. Mold and shape me, still, to be all you created my to be. I’m yours and I’m listening.

In Jesus Name, Amen