Psalm 137
And now we come to one of the worst verses in the entire book, a statement that is so heinous it can only come from a place of great pain. "Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!", how hurt and angry must someone be to write those words? How much pain must they have endured to want such horrors visited on another. Too often we wish for vengeance, but praying that one might come to kill the children of another, that is a whole other level of vengeance.
Derek Webb has a song that contains the lyric, "I know a way out of hell We raise all our enemies' children After they've murdered ours We affix all their scars to our walls So there's heartbreak for everyone" and while I am not sure if it's a perfect solution I do think that it would help us all to understand that a child of an enemy is still a child. It might help us to understand that an enemy is still a parent and a son and a friend and a lover. Because the first step to wanting this level of violence brought upon another is to dehumanize them. If they are just a religion, just an ethnicity, just a caricature it is much easier to not care what might be done to them. But, when we understand them as people, as those who love and lose just like us, then we can begin to move them from 'enemy' to 'child of God'. When we make that move we understand that the one who would dash their babies against rocks are not our friends, they are not working on our behalf, but rather are living in hate.
One last thing, we once again see the outcome of believing that God has a distinct location, because the author questions how they can sing praises to God in the midst of a foreign land. As I've mentioned multiple times now, God can be found anywhere, everywhere, so you can praise God at any moment, in every moment, if you so desire.
+ What is the angriest you've ever been? What did you say to the person who angered you, or what did you say about them?
No comments:
Post a Comment