By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we rememberedZion. (Psalm 137:1 ESV)
Thanksgiving and Hope
Someone described the flu as: “First I was afraid I was going to die, and then I was afraid I wasn’t.” I have felt that sick… and felt that I was so ill I would never recover. Things seemed so bad that there was no hope.
I did recover, though.
Psalm 137 shows us the exiles weeping. But that weeping was a mixed emotion, because remembering Zion was a two-edged sword. Yes, they remembered Zion and regretted the sins of their nation. But they also, I believe, wept with hope.
Remembering Zion meant remembering God’s covenant promises. Remembering Zion meant remembering that God had promised an end to their suffering. Remembering Zion meant a future restored to God’s presence, with the same blessings they had experienced in the past.
In the midst of their sorrow, guilt, fear, and loneliness, God gave them hope. At the same moment that they were giving thanks for the wonder of Zion, they knew Zion would return. Their thankfulness for God’s patient goodness in the old days gave them hope that God would once more be merciful.
And He offers us that hope, too. He gives us mountain-top experiences to give rise to hope in the valley. He gives us memories of blessings to give rise to hope in times of curses. He gives us the amazing narratives of God’s awesome deeds in the Bible to give rise to hope that God continues to act today.
So give thanks to God for those Zions in our past. Biblically as well as personally. And follow our paths of gratitude to hope.
Take the hope God grants us.