• “Listening to God” Bible Reading & Devotion: Apr 15, 2025 – Psalms 137

    Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Psalms+137

     

    Psalm 137 (ESV)

    How Shall We Sing the Lord’s Song?

    1 By the waters of Babylon,
    there we sat down and wept,
    when we remembered Zion.
    2 On the willows there
    we hung up our lyres.
    3 For there our captors
    required of us songs,
    and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
    “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

    4 How shall we sing the Lord’s song
    in a foreign land?
    5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
    let my right hand forget its skill!
    6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
    if I do not remember you,
    if I do not set Jerusalem
    above my highest joy!

    7 Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
    the day of Jerusalem,
    how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare,
    down to its foundations!”
    8 O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
    blessed shall he be who repays you
    with what you have done to us!
    9 Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
    and dashes them against the rock!

     

    REFLECTION:

    1. The psalmist mourned the plight of the exiled Israelites. He expressed strong love for Zion and strong hatred for Israel’s enemies.
    2. In Babylon, far from their ancient homeland, the Jewish people felt crushed and isolated from God. Only when God acted again, to crush their oppressors and restore them to the Holy Land, would songs of joy again spring from their lips.
    3. It is only when we see God at work, in history and in our present lives, that we know real joy. Jesus put it this way, “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:24) Christ did not imply that receiving the thing we pray for will bring joy. His point was that in the answer to prayer we will sense God at work, and this—God active in our lives—gives us joy.
    4. Have you enjoyed this kind of joy—knowing God was active in your life and working for you? What was the situation? How did you feel about that? Find a chance to share it with another person, and the joy you experienced.

     

    PRAYER:

    Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what He wants to tell you.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in your spiritual journal.

     

    HYMN:

    By the Rivers of Babylon – www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYK9iCRb7S4

     

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“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)

In January 2009, PGC started the “260 Appointments with God” Bible Reading and Devotion program. From September 2017, the program has a vision to help brothers and sisters do devotion and reading through the whole Bible in four and a half years starting with the Book of Genesis. The program was renamed to “Listening to God” in January 2020. Thank the Lord the first cycle finished with Revelation on March 25, 2022. From March 28, 2022 “Listening to God” began another cycle starting with Genesis. The order of the books is alternated between the Old and New Testaments. For details, please refer to Bible Reading and Devotion Book Sequence.

All participants can track their progress of Bible reading using the PGC Bible Reading Chart. PGC participants can also track their Bible reading progress online and query through the Bible Reading Record Query page. PGC participants who do not have an account should create an account according to the instructions in the Registration page. The Bible Reading Record Query will allow tracking of personal progress after logging in. Even without logging in, you can still use the Bible Reading Record Query for fast access of the devotion information.

May brothers and sisters listen to and obey God’s Word every day, and be the Lord’s disciples.