God is in control

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

Psalm 137:1

That verse has inspired songs, movies and books, all wrestling with the tension of living in a metaphorical ‘Babylon’ – living under an oppressive foreign authority.

The original, literal Babylon was a place where the people of God were carried off as captives, and spent their days serving a nation that had humiliated their people, and forced them to bow down and worship a king that had set himself up as a god.

Was all hope gone? Had God’s Plan of Salvation failed? Many believed so, but a small group of Israelites had faith that God was still in control, still working out His purposes despite the hopelessness around them. They worked for the good of the community, but refused to compromise on their beliefs.

If you feel like you’re living in a kind of ‘Babylon’ today, there is hope. God is still in control, still working out His purposes in our broken world. Let’s continue to partner with Him, and demonstrate to those around us what the Kingdom of God is like by the way we live each day!

Brendan

Featured imaged: Lion mosaic from the procession street of Babylon gate, c. 604-562 BC, exhibited in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin.