Sing The Songs Of Zion
Have you ever had an experience that awakened a memory of your childhood; certain smells or tastes or colors? The first time I went to Sweden, I had such an experience. As I felt the crisp, Fall air and saw the birch trees and other familiar vegetation, I was thrust back to my childhood in Fairbanks, Alaska. Being in this artic environment brought such longings of home. I believe most immigrants experience this from time to time. The same was true of the Jewish people when they were taken as slaves to Babylon. Their captors mocked them as they demanded that they sing for them the songs of their homeland. This was pure torture, for just singing the songs of Zion, brought back such longings of the land they loved. The Psalmist writes: “How shall we sing the Lord’s songs in a foreign land?” (Ps. 137.4)
There is a place we call home and when we are away from that place, we feel strange and that we just don’t belong. It is like sleeping in a bed that is not our bed. It can be the best of hotels, the most ideal environment, but it is not home. Many a vacation is cut short by the desire to get back home and sleep in your own bed. Since the time of David, Jerusalem has been such a place for the Jewish people. The Jewish people have spent thousands of years away from Israel, trying to fit into the many nations of their diaspora, yet have maintained Jerusalem as their hope and desire. “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!” (Ps. 137.5-6) Since the 13th century, those who lived outside of Israel would say at the end of their Passover meal and Yom Kippur: “Next year in Jerusalem”.
For many Christians, home is heaven. It is their Beulah land, their Jerusalem in the sky and their crossing over Jordan. They have placed heaven as a future experience rather than a present reality. Isn’t heaven the experience of the presence of God? Didn’t Jesus come to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth? Didn’t He send the Holy Spirit to dwell with us? John uses words like “dwell” and “abide” to describe our relationship with the Lord. Being “home” is being in Christ. The prodigal son wondered away from his home when we went after his own desires and lusts, but when he hit bottom, he remembered the joys of his childhood, the comforts of home and the love of his father. As he returned home to his father and family, he heard once again the songs of Zion. His heart was warmed and his life restored. If you have wondered away and find yourself in a dry and distant land, you too can come home.
The songs of Zion are calling us back into the Lord’s presence. He is enthroned upon our praises. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Through the redemptive work on the cross, Jesus has opened the door to each one of us. No need to linger at the door. Fear is outside the gates, depression pushes us away from His love…yet there is that longing, that homesickness, that pulling at our heart. Jesus told His disciples that when two or three gather together, He is also there. Believers, when they come together, is Heaven on earth. It is being at Home. So sing to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing the songs of Zion.
Come home, come home,
You who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, O sinner, come home.
(by Will L. Thompson)
Scriptures to meditate on:
Ps. 137; 122.1-6; 26.8; 22.3; I John 4.13; Eph. 5.19