Have You Hung Up Your Harp?
by Terry Wane Benton
Psalm 137 speaks about the Israelite Levites losing heart because they were now removed from their homeland and in Babylonian captivity. The reason they were taken captive physically was because they let the forces of evil captivate them in heart and remove them from God. Now the text says they were all sad and "hung up their harps" on the willows by the river. When someone asked them to sing, they did not have a heart for singing. They asked, in view of the circumstances, "How can we sing?"
Jesus puts joy in hearts "that no man can take from you" (John 16:22) so that, regardless of the external circumstances, our heart strings can vibrate with a new song that Jesus gives us. Paul and Silas were singing, though beaten and thrown in prison, fastened in stocks. They did not hang up their harps (spiritual heart-strings) of joy in Christ (Acts 16:22-25).
There should be "melody in the heart" (Ephesians 5:19) that causes us to sing. The word "melody" comes from a root word that means "to pluck." To pluck in the heart means that we have heartstrings to pluck. Jesus gives us reasons to pluck our heart-harps. Forgiveness gives relief to our hearts. Eternal life gives hope to our hearts. The love of God for us tunes our heart strings into reasons to sing and pluck those heart-strings.
But has the world and what is happening in it taken our joy away? Has the world taken us captive? Have we hung up our harps? Is there no melody vibrating in our hearts? Can we not sing one of the songs of former days? Did you give your heart away to the world?
Like Paul and Silas, we need to focus on what is really important. They still had something to sing about from the stocks in prison. They did not hang up their harps. Let the church rise up in these trying times and sing because we have something very special within, a joy that no man can take from us. Have you hung up your harps in captivity? Rejoice in the Lord always! In everything give thanks! Never let the song of Jesus die from your heart. It is not the time to feel sorry for ourselves. It is time to tune our harps and sing.
