Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Dec 8 2019 - Psalm 137 – By the rivers of Babylon

Psalm 137 takes us back from the time of Esther and the Persian Empire, to a time shortly after the people of Jerusalem and Judah were taken off into captivity in Babylon. Their captivity may have been entirely their own fault – a consequence of their lack of faithfulness to God – and they may have been warned time and time again by the prophets, but when they were hauled away from their homes and settled in a strange land it must have been unimaginably traumatic. Not only had they witnessed the destruction of their homes, they also felt that the Lord their God had abandoned them. This psalm expresses their sorrow and anguish.

The psalm has all the vividness of personal experience. The psalmist and his companions, perhaps temple musicians and singers, are sitting by the river in Babylon, weeping with distress as they remember Zion – thinking back to the temple and its worship in which they had played an active part. They are unable to sing the temple songs – the psalms – as they sit there in tears and so have hung up their harps as a symbol of their inability or unwillingness to make music. Those who had taken them captive taunted them by asking them to sing them the songs of Zion, but they could not: "How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?" (v. 4). They will not allow their songs of worship of the living God to be ridiculed by those who worship idols.

But though they cannot sing, neither do they wish to forget their songs and their music making:

If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy, (vv. 5-6)

Their skills may not now be used, but they do not want them to be lost. They long for the day when they will be back in Zion, playing their music again and lifting their voices again in praise of God.

But right now, all they can think of is the way in which Jerusalem was destroyed. Not only had the Babylonians laid siege to the city and finally broke through its walls, what added to their pain was that the Edomites, descendants of Jacob's brother Esau, came to gloat over the destruction and to egg on those who were tearing down Jerusalem's buildings (v. 7, see also Obadiah 10-14). As this picture comes vividly again into the mind of the psalmist, he calls on the Lord also to remember the atrocities that had been committed. This is not to suggest that these things have slipped God's mind; the call for God to remember is a call for him to take action. He had said through the prophets that he would punish the nations he had used to discipline his people – punish them for their arrogance and cruelty. So, as the psalmist remembers how the conquering Babylonians had seized infants and dashed them against rocks he declares, "happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us" (v. 8, see also v. 9). The psalmist considers that person "happy" or "blessed" because they would be acting in accordance with God's declared word.

I am sure that we find such language difficult and repugnant. But we need to recognise that these are genuine expressions of how the psalmist felt and which, rather than turning into vengeful actions of his own, he brings to God in a cry of pain and prayer. This is how he felt and he knows that God can deal with it. He does not hide his genuine feelings behind an outpouring of pious words when he comes before the Lord. And nor should we. It is good to be careful of what we say before others, particularly those young in the faith, but before God we do not need to hide anything – he knows our hearts completely. We can be honest before him in prayer and pour out our pain to him just as we can, and should, pour out our praise.

Living God, help us to be honest before you in our prayer and to be attentive in listening for your response. Help us to bring our pain to the foot of the cross and to know that our crucified Lord has suffered for us and suffers with us. Help us to know his risen power at work in us that we might be lifted beyond our pain to glimpse glory. Turn our pain to praise.

Dec 8 2020 - 3 John – It is well with your soul

In John's third letter, he provides us with cameos of three people in the church to which he is writing. The first is of Gaius, an elder of the church and the one to whom the letter is addressed. He is walking in the truth and gladly offering help and support to Christians who have passed through his town. John commends him for his faithfulness and prays "that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well" (3 John 1:2). John's words here were inspiration for the wonderful hymn:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and hath shed his own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
even so, it is well with my soul.

The second cameo is of Diotrephes "who loves to be first." Here is a man who wanted to make the church his own fiefdom and to send packing any who might challenge his own domination. Sadly, there are still many like that today: men – and they generally are men – who have failed to understand the servant model of leadership handed on to us from Jesus Christ; men who love titles and status more than they love the people of God; men who insist that they are in charge and that it is the duty of others to submit to their rule. John names such conduct for what it is – "evil".

Lastly there is Demetrius who, like Gaius, is well spoken of by others. We know nothing more of him, but this is enough. In contrast to Diotrephes, Demetrius clearly loved and served the people of God.

When the disciples were arguing over who should be first, Jesus told them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves” (Luke 22:25-26). Nor is this simply a command handed down to us by Jesus, it is a model he exemplified in his life; “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (John 13:14-17).

What model of leadership are we fostering in our churches? When our model of leadership is based upon patterns of power and control common to this world we seek to be greater than our Master while demonstrating that he is no longer our Lord. He who went to the cross for us calls us to follow him in servant leadership.

Lord Jesus, we delight in you and are filled with wonder at your servant love for us. You went to the cross for us that all might be well with our souls. Help us to follow you and show the same servant love for others: for our brothers and sisters in Christ and for the lost world you came to save.

Peter Misselbrook