Psalm 137:3-4
Our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
This is an agonising psalm. The people are in exile far from their homes. Sitting by the rivers of Babylon, they were about 1,000 miles from their beloved Jerusalem. In their misery, they couldn’t bring themselves to make music, so they hung up their harps on the branches of poplar trees. However, the local people insisted that they wanted to hear their happy songs. This reminds me of many visits I’ve made around the world where people, especially children, gather round and ask for a song. But the exiles could think of nothing worse. In despair they cried out: “how can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?”
The pain and awkwardness of living in exile is the experience of every Christian. We are here on earth on a very temporary basis. As the apostle Paul put it: “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). God wants us to enjoy our lives to the full and give ourselves completely to life on this earth, but we must always remember that our true home is elsewhere.
It is very easy to understand the despair and sadness of exiles, but it is possible to sing the Lord’s songs in a hostile environment. Christians have proved for centuries that it can be done. Hard as our circumstances may be at times, there is always much to sing about.
Question
To what extent do you feel like an exile?
Prayer
Loving God, help me to learn what it means to be a citizen of heaven. Amen

Released on 20 Sep 2026