pramsay posted on July 06, 2011 19:21 648 views
BIBLE BITES
www.heaven4sure.com
HEART HARPS
Someone said just yesterday that harp music was not among their favourites. Too mellow. Too slow. Too whatever. The chances are the majority reading this have never downloaded one piece of mp3 harp music. To put a plug in for harpists, there is some very excellent reflective Christian harp music available.
The people had sinned as a nation. They had a history of straying from the Lord. Sin has consequences and side-effects. The mighty ruthless forces of Babylon swooped down, created havoc and destruction and thousands of the nation's best were dragged back to pagan Babylon as hostages. It was a sad and bitter time for the Jews. After their forced labour ended for the day, they would often gather by the rivers of Babylon to remember Zion - Jerusalem - and the Lord. It was a rather pitiful scene - sitting on the river banks, downcast and constantly wiping the tears from their cheeks. The branches of the willow trees sagged with de-commissioned harps. How could they ever play mellow harps and sing their happy Lord-songs from Jerusalem in such a hostile environment! To make matters worse, their captors and tormentors would try to force them to pluck the strings and sing. Such taunting orders only added salt to the wounds of God's people.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down,
yea, we wept when we remembered Zion.
We hung our harps upon the willows...
How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land?
(Psalms 137:1-4)
Nothing to sing about. Nothing to be joyful over. Nothing but sadness and bitterness - surrounded by blasphemers and tormentors. Let's face it - it wasn't exactly the milieu for a hymn-sing.
Fast forward now to another scene. Accusers, captors and tormentors surrounded the Christians. They were captured, dragged down a street, man-handled, roughed-up and their bare backs were severely beaten - 39 brutal, bloody floggings. It is highly unlikely that any tea-tree oils were administered to the open wounds nor any natural soothing anaesthetic applied to relieve the pain. They were physically thrown into a not-so-nice prison cell and wooden stocks with iron clamps were fastened around their feet.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,
and the prisoners were listening to them,
(Acts 16:25)
Not exactly a cathedral or a concert hall. No tickets were sold for the performance but the prisoners were listening to the words of every song sung and prayer prayed. One doesn't get the sense that they were singing self-pitying songs of discouragement or employing lyrics that vented their bitterness over being abused in the path of surrendering their lives to the Lord. One can almost imagine an upbeat tone of praise, triumph and confidence in their songs to the Lord.
Singing the Lord's song in a foreign land? Definitely and at midnight too! No harps sagging from poplar trees for these guys! Their heart strings were strung for the Lord, in harmony with Christ and they counted it an honor to suffer shame for His blessed Name.
What made the difference in the two stories? Paul and Silas were suffering for Christ in the path of obedience, love and devotion. On the other hand, the Jews were suffering because of failure - their own failure as a nation. When our conscience is totally clear and our love for Christ is strong, it's slightly easier for the strings of the heart harp to be plucked melodically in adversity.
How's my heart today?
Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today,
Warmly in Christ,
Peter Ramsay