DEVOTION: Where's Your Harp? ~ by Shirley Corder

In Psalm 137 the psalmist expresses the distress of the Israelis in exile. As they sat next to the rivers of Babylon, they wept as they remembered Jerusalem. Verse 2 says, "On the willows near by, we hung up our harps." Their enemies told them to entertain them, but they refused saying, "How can we sing a song to the Lord in a foreign land?" (v4)

How sad. The Israelites, famous for their joyful music, had hung up their harps. They had turned from their ability to feel joy. 

They only remembered the wonderful times in Jerusalem. They had forgotten the hard times. Jerusalem was never perfect, but Babylon was worse. They were slaves. How could they sing in a foreign land? They were exiles, but by their attitude they were cutting themselves off from God as well.

You may remember a popular song some years ago that used their words. "I hung my harp on a weeping willow tree." It became a top hit with the young people and every time you switched on the radio it seemed to be playing. I doubt that many listeners realised they were quoting Scripture when they sang along.
The Israelites had hung up their harps. They had given up. They felt they couldn’t sing songs of joy in their unhappy circumstances. Yet was not this the very time when they needed to sing? Perhaps they would sing sad songs, maybe confused songs, but at least the songs would remind them that God was still there. They needed to lift the harp back out of that tree, and show the Babylonians that they may have conquered the nation, but they hadn’t conquered their souls.

How is your heart attitude today? Are you singing songs of rejoicing? Or are you singing sad songs? The more important question is, are you singing at all? Or have you hung up your harp too?

Over to you: Whatever is wrong in your life today, decide now to pick up that harp and sing as if your life depends upon it. Show the world that you can still praise God, even in the midst of crisis or unhappiness.

SHIRLEY CORDER lives on the coast in South Africa with her husband. Her book, Strength Renewed: Meditations for your Journey through Breast Cancer contains 90 meditations based on some of the ways God's Positioning System directed her through the rough times in the cancer valley. It is available globally in print or online in e-versions. 

Please visit Shirley through ShirleyCorder.com, where she encourages writers, or at RiseAndSoar.com, where she encourages those in the cancer valley. You can also meet with her on Twitter or FaceBook. Sign up for her newsletter.