Psalm
137:2-3 “We hanged our harps upon willows in the Midst thereof. For they that have carried us away captive
required of us a song: and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying,
Sing unto us one of the songs of Zion.”
These
musicians from Jerusalem had been taken captive into the land of Babylon. For some reason, they were allowed to take
their hand held lyres with them. In God’s
great mercy, He impressed Israel’s captors to let each musician take his
instrument of praise with him. Instead
of being grateful to god, the musicians hid their kinnorot (3658) among the
thick branches of the willow trees.
Instead of playing these instruments, to the Glory of Jehovah in this
strange land, they became depressed and refused to play them.
How many times have you and I, as Christian
musicians, hung our harps on a willow?
When a musician gets hurt by other Christians this musician feels used
up or abused by those the people and the Christian organization to whom he or
she has been ministering. Musicians who are depressed often believe that
others have wronged them and have wrung them out like a wet dish rag and still “requiring
a song”. Worse yet, this organization is
requiring “mirth” by expecting these Christian musicians to get up on Sunday morning
and “sing and play with a smile”.
The Hebrew word translated mirth is simchah (8057)
means gladness, joy, or rejoicing. Like
these Israelite musicians, Christian musicians who are burnt out often find
genuine praise to God to be a hard pill to swallow. The sad fact about this account recorded in
the Sepher Tehillim (book of praises) is that these musician’s captors ask them
to do the very thing that could have been a means of grace to their troubled
hearts—but they refused to praise Jehovah.
Their captors simply asked these musicians to “sing one of the songs of
Zion”.
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