Embrace The Sorrow
By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
Psalm 137:1
Due to the rate at which COVID-19 spreads, we, along with other people in both religious and non-religious settings, have ceased to gather together. Now, there is much to be said about why God is allowing this to happen and how we should think about Him in response to that; that might be the subject of a future post. But, what do we do when we cannot meet together? How should we feel when we are detached from the special presence of God in the assembly of His church? Now, none of us goes to church on Sunday to gain special access to God. Rather, God calls us to come and worship Him as His assembled body on the Lord’s Day (Sunday), and He meets us through those means that He appoints for His worship and our benefit. But, now, we are hindered from coming.
The Israelites were carried off into exile in Babylon around 597 BC, and they did not return until around 538 BC. Psalm 137 is a psalm of Israel’s exile. Take note of the sadness in the words above. The Israelites were in a place; they were in Babylon, in a strange land. God’s special presence and blessing in the temple at Jerusalem were far from their reach. Because of this, they reacted appropriately. They sat down and wept. What great sorrow it must have been for the people of God to be estranged from the place that God had set aside for them, for their life and their worship. This was a cause for great sorrow and lament. Matthew Henry makes note that their tears were “tears with consideration.” They remembered Zion. They set their minds to dwell on the temple mount. Again, Henry said: “Their affection to God’s house swallowed up their concern for their own houses.”
Brothers and sisters at Renovation Church, we are not in a happy place at this time. We are a people in exile. We are detached from God’s unique presence on the Lord’s Day during the assembly of His people. We cannot partake of the Lord’s Supper. We cannot celebrate any baptisms. We cannot hear the word preached in our presence. Our corporate prayers cannot go up as we utter a unified amen. We cannot sing with our one voice songs of love, adoration, thanksgiving, lament, and grace. Church, this is a sad time. Let us also sit and weep as we remember the special blessing of worshiping God as His assembled body. It is right to be sad, so I won’t try and cheer you up with this post. Nevertheless, let us also look forward to the day when we will be together again and can grab ahold of God’s means of grace; that will be a wonderful day.