There Is A RIVER

Scripture

 Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept
    as we thought of Jerusalem.

~Psalm 137:1, NLT

Quote

“Jerusalem did not become great because of commerce, water, or geography, but because God chose to put His name there.”

~Source Unknown

I read the Psalms twice a year and have been doing so for the last decade or longer. I am absolutely amazed by the freshness of the Psalm of the day. The other day I opened my bible to Psalm 137, a very familiar Psalm. As I began an exegetical study I was astounded. Wow, how could I have missed so much for so long. “Beside the rivers of Babylon,” is a beginning. Babylon had rivers, more than one. Although they are no where near the longest rivers in the world, the Euphrates and Tigris are huge compared to the tiny Jordan which is no bigger than flint creek on this side of highway 31. The captive Jews were not impressed with Babylon’s rivers. Most, not all, major cities in this world are built near water and most on a river: Cario has the Nile, London the Thames, New York has the Hudson, Montreal has the St. Lawrence, Vienna has the blue Danube, and Paris has the Siene. Most great cities were built on rivers; Jerusalem was built on a rock and a revelation {promise}. The greatness of Jerusalem was not a river that flowed by it, but a river that sprang from it. As Psalm 46 states, There is a River whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. Jesus is that River. The atoning work of Jesus made Jerusalem the most important city in the world.

The second part of verse 1, “We sat and wept as we thought of Jerusalem.” The captive Jews fell prey to self-pity. They gave in to their circumstances; threw in the old proverbial towel. In other words, they just quit. You know it is always easier to do like the Jews, blame others and quit; make some flimsy excuse and quit. The LORD did not promise us a rose garden. He told us up front, there would be tribulation. Everyone is not going to roll out the red carpet for us or treat us with respect; everything is not going to be a piece of cake. Many things will turn out to be a struggle. We will probably fail more than we succeed but our circumstances must not dictate our attitude. Our attitude must be dominant. We can’t control what others do to us but we can control our attitude toward them and the circumstance they create. The Jews had a chance to witness but they choose to whine. They refused to sing in a foreign land. Vicktor Frankl, the Jewish phycharist who survived two nazi death camps said, “Everything can be taken from us except our freedom to determine our attitude or response.”

Extra.

Keith Dotson was promoted last night around 6:00 pm. Keith fought hard but he got septic and eventually all the things working against him took their toll. We need to pray for Katrina, Joyce and the girls. Bo is better. The boys said he was much better than he was on Tuesday. The fish fry went good. We made a few mistakes; or let me say the leader make a few mistakes. Our cooks wanted to fry more and I said we have enough. They were right and I was wrong. Not one morsel was left. I hope you have a good Thursday, Thanks for reading the blog. I think I have a new subscriber.

Extra/Extra

~Mem’s Breakfast Saturday at 8:00

~National Day of Prayer May 7, 5:00 am-11:00 am {Grace Point has from 5:00 am to 6:00} We gather at the Associational Office on highway 31.