Can you sing the Lord song in the midst of your trials?

During the captivity of Judah by the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the prophet Ezekiel sat among the captives by the river Chebar where he saw a vision of God on His throne descending to earth.

No doubt Ezekiel was part of the captive Jews who was in great distress regarding their plight. According to Psalms 137, the Jews wept bitterly when they remembered their freedom in Zion.

Their masters tried to console them by asking them to sing one of their songs of Zion. However, the Jews were overwhelmed with grief and said,

How shall we sing the Lord‘s song in a strange land? (Psalms 137:4)

Instead of singing, the Jews hang their harps in the willows of the trees and lamented.

They refused to sing the Lord song in the midst of their captivity in a strange land even though the memory of their beloved Jerusalem would never be removed from their hearts.

This was a stark contrast to the response of Paul and Silas to their imprisonment in Phillipi, Macedonia.

Instead of weeping and wailing like their forefathers long ago in Babylon, they prayed and sang hymns to God all night.

Their torn stinging flesh, the iron shackles and stocks could not prevent Paul and Silas from singing the songs of Zion in a strange, damp, dark and smelly prison cell.

Their voices rang out so loud in the middle of the night that the other prisoners heard and listened.

Paul and Silas melodious praise reached the heart of God who sent an earthquake to break open the prison door and loosen their chains.

Paul and Silas praise to God in the midst of their persecution created a great revival in the prison that even the prison Jailor was saved that night. (See Acts 16).

This was a demonstration of the power of praise in the midst of your captivity.

In the midst of your trials, continue to sing the songs of Zion and watch as the chains of your burden falls off and you are delivered and set free.

Hallelujah! Glory to God!

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

² We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

³ For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

⁴ How shall we sing the Lord‘s song in a strange land?

⁵ If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.

⁶ If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.

⁷ Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.

⁸ O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.

⁹ Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. (Psalms 137)