by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
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<\/em>” 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?<\/em>“<\/p>\n Jesus puts joy in hearts “that no man can take from you<\/em>” (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).<\/p>\n There should be “melody in the heart<\/em>” (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.<\/p>\n 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?<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[520,1813],"class_list":["post-91220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-music","tag-optimism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":39088,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/revelation-14-and-the-harps\/","url_meta":{"origin":91220,"position":0},"title":"Revelation 14 and the Harps","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer I'm dealing here with a very narrow aspect of the question of instruments in worship. In support of the use of instruments in worship, we often hear Revelation 14 brought up. Because this passage is used positively, and because it involves the use of instruments, then this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Harp-219x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":45241,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/psalmois-cant-be-understood-figuratively-it-has-to-refer-to-its-classical-meaning\/","url_meta":{"origin":91220,"position":1},"title":"Psalmois can’t be understood figuratively. It has to refer to its classical meaning.","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question is regarding the use of instrumental music to worship God in relation to Ephesians 5:19. \"speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord\". The view presented on your website is that the noun \"psalmois\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23248,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-singing-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":91220,"position":2},"title":"A Singing Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Brock Hartwigsen The church was prophesied in the Old Testament as a singing church. In II Samuel 22:50 and repeated in Psalms 18:49, David stated: \"Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.\" Years later the apostle Paul by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/songbook-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":35249,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-church-have-allowed-a-homosexual-to-sing-before-the-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":91220,"position":3},"title":"Should a church have allowed a homosexual to sing before the congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: On Mother's day, our church leaders allowed a young gay man, who had never attended our church before, to get up and sing a song to his mother and Grandmother. The grandmother requested that what she wanted for Mothers' Day was for her family to attend church with her.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42460,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/singing-to-the-lord-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":91220,"position":4},"title":"Singing to the Lord (Hickox)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Michael Hickox via The Sincere Milk of God's Word \"Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord\" (Ephesians 5:19). \"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53005,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/hymns-and-opportunity-cost\/","url_meta":{"origin":91220,"position":5},"title":"Hymns and Opportunity Cost","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. 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