FIRST QUARTER 2024
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #5
FEBRUARY 3, 2024
“SINGING THE LORD’S SONG IN A STRANGE LAND”

 

 

“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” (Psalm 137:4).

When you think of home, what thoughts come to mind? The warmth of a fire on a winter’s evening? Familiar surroundings? A place to gather with friends and loved ones who are most dear?

For the Jewish captives in Babylon, thinking about home brought only tears, for home was no more. The Babylonians had ruthlessly destroyed their city and their temple, burned it with fire, and taken captive those they didn’t kill. Life’s comforts were gone.

Several of the Psalms listed in this week’s lesson depict the heartbreak of the Jewish people.

 

        By the rivers of Babylon,

        There we sat down, yea, we wept

        When we remembered Zion.
       

        We hung our harps

        Upon the willows in the midst of it.
 

        For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,

        And those who plundered us requested mirth, saying,

                “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

 

        How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?

Psalm 137:1-4, NKJV

         

The Jews were learning lessons of faith under very difficult circumstances. In former times when life was easy, they had become friends of the world. From time to time, godly kings like Josiah had instituted reforms, but none were lasting. Now, they were experiencing the long-withheld judgments of God. In His mercy He permitted this trial in order to free them from idolatry. In this foreign land they were learning lessons of faith which they had failed to learn in more favorable conditions.

The Psalms in our study this week express the prayers of those who, through fiery trials, were learning to live by faith. The heart-warming truth of the gospel is that Jesus walked this path with them.

        In all their affliction he was afflicted,

        and the angel of his presence saved them:

        in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;

        and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

Isaiah 63:9

 

        In my distress I called upon the LORD,

        and cried to my God:

        and he did hear my voice out of his temple,

        and my cry did enter into his ears.

2 Samuel 22:7

 

In many respects these Psalms are also the prayers of Jesus. While He never had sins to confess as did David or others, yet in taking upon Himself “the likeness of our sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3), Jesus more closely identified Himself with us in our trials than our closest friend or brother. This is how it was possible that “in all their affliction, he was afflicted.”

The most precious message of Jesus and His righteousness shared at the General Conference session in Minneapolis and during the decade following was to bring more prominently before us the faith of Jesus. His faith pierces the gloom brought by grief, guilt and despair and brings us into the sunlight of His presence. Over and over we see in the Psalms a pattern:

Crying out to God in distress or pleading to God for justice
Feeling of God abandonment and forsakenness
Expressing hope and faith in God’s promises
Darkness lifting as words and songs of praise and gratitude are proclaimed
Feelings of joy and gladness follow

“The third angel’s message is the proclamation of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ. The commandments of God have been proclaimed, but the faith of Jesus Christ has not been proclaimed by Seventh-day Adventists as of equal importance, the law and the gospel going hand in hand.

“‘The faith of Jesus.’ It is talked of, but not understood. What constitutes the faith of Jesus, that belongs to the third angel’s message? Jesus becoming our sin-bearer that He might become our sin-pardoning Savior. He was treated as we deserve to be treated. He came to our world and took our sins that we might take His righteousness. And faith in the ability of Christ to save us amply and fully and entirely is the faith of Jesus.”—Ellen G. White, 1 Selected Messages, p. 172.

Like the Jews of old, Seventh-day Adventists have been blessed with much light shining from God’s word including Christ’s ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, the seventh-day Sabbath, and Christ’s first and second advents. And like the Jews, we have lessons of faith yet to learn. Faith believes when feeling fails. When all seems against us, do we abandon our trust in God or press on like Jacob, refusing to let our Savior go until we have assurance of His blessing?

“The work which the church has failed to do in a time of peace and prosperity she will have to do in a terrible crisis under most discouraging, forbidding circumstances. The warnings that worldly conformity has silenced or withheld must be given under the fiercest opposition from enemies of the faith.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 463.

Because “prosperity multiplies a mass of professors,” the Lord will permit “adversity [to purge] them out of the church.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p. 89.

The Lord did not forsake the Jews in Babylon, and He will not forsake us. But because we, like the Jews, have neglected to nurture “the faith of Jesus” in times of ease, the Lord has mercifully warned us that “as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” The chastening will be a wakeup call, a time of humiliation, and a time to heed the counsel of the True Witness: “Be zealous therefore, and repent” (Revelation 3:19).

Now is the time to prepare, and to store the precious hymns and psalms of faith in our minds. “I call to remembrance my song in the night” (Psalm 77:6).

Years ago, close friends of ours lost their 9-year-old son in a tragic drowning accident. The canoe in which he was riding capsized, throwing the boy into the rapids. His body was later discovered submerged underwater and pinned against a rock by the force of the waves.

Several weeks after his passing they came to our home, hearts heavy with grief and crying out to God for comfort in their loss. No words can lift the pain in such moments, but together we found comfort in singing hymns such as “Does Jesus Care?”.

The Psalms teach us to sing through adversity, to cultivate thankfulness even under trial, and to turn to our loving Savior in all our necessities. He has walked the path before us, and He is praying for and singing over us even now. We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Because of their sin, Adam and Eve were banished from their garden home. Noah and his family’s home was destroyed in the flood. Abraham was called to leave his home and go to a land which God would show him. Thereafter he lived in a tent. The Israelites left their homes in Egypt for a life in the wilderness. The Jews’ homes were destroyed by the Babylonians.

And Jesus voluntarily left His home in heaven for a humble home in Nazareth, and as an adult, He had no place to call home.

Jesus lives in heaven now, and He will not rest until His prayer is answered: “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).

 

        There’s a land that is fairer than day,
        And by faith we can see it afar;
        For the Father waits over the way
        To prepare us a dwelling place there.

 

        Refrain
        In the sweet (in the sweet)
        By and by (by and by),
        We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
        In the sweet (in the sweet)
        By and by (by and by),
        We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

 

        We shall sing on that beautiful shore
        The melodious songs of the blest,
        And our spirits shall sorrow no more
        Not a sigh for the blessing of rest.

 

        To our bountiful Father above
        We will offer our tribute of praise;
        For the glorious gift of His love
        And the blessings that hallow our days.

 

Words by S. F. Bennett, SDA Hymnal, p. 428

 

~Patti Guthrie