DON’T HANG UP YOUR HARP

(Post by: Lilly Hobbs)

I heard an incredible sermon a couple of nights ago, and after spending some time contemplating the words that were spoken, I am more than confident it is what the Lord wants me to share with you.

The certain evangelist I was listening to, who’s name is Billy Huddleston, challenged a room full of church-going, Bible-believing, holiness-minded people with this thought: be a person of worship, not a prisoner of war.

You see, in Psalm 137:1-4, it seems as though Israel (God’s chosen people) had lost their song. It tells us..

“By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
    when we remembered Zion.
There on the poplars
    we hung our harps,
for there 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?”

Here we discover that God’s people are in captivity in Babylon, in a foreign land that is not their own, and instead of choosing to return to the Lord their God in praise, they chose a much different route…

They chose to hang up their harps.

They chose to do exactly and precisely what the enemy wanted them to do, and it is exactly what the enemy wants from us. You may be thinking, “So what? What’s the big deal?”

Allow me to explain…

If there is one thing the enemy is after it is most certainly and undoubtedly our personal praise. The devil understands the power of worship and is fearful of what it is capable of bringing about. He is aware of the fact that if he can get us distracted and preoccupied when it comes to our personal praise, our corporate worship will be dramatically weakened.

Maybe that is part of why so many churches feel lifeless and miserable. Our worship gatherings are weak because the people filling them have already hung up their harps long before they ever walked through the doors.

We hang up our harps like Israel did and we give up. Maybe it’s because we’re discouraged. Maybe it’s because of a certain circumstance we find ourselves in. Maybe it’s because of our job, or our family, or bitterness, or some kind of hurt we are clinging to. We let our circumstances dictate our song.

We have forgotten whose we are, and because of that, we’re bringing the Lord much less than what He deserves.

1 Peter 2:9-10 tells us, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

This is why we worship! We worship because those of us who are saved are set apart because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross. Where you are doesn’t determine who you are.

In his powerful sermon Huddleston said, “Praise will birth the power of heaven in the battles you face.”

So, the challenge is the same for us today: Don’t hang up your harp just because you’re in Babylon. Sing regardless of where you find yourself.

Choose to sing hallelujah anyway.

“Day and night, night and day, let incense arise.” – Worthy of it All