PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Psalm 137

What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?

“Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.” (Psalm 137:9)
This is not meant to be a life verse, nor would it make a good Hallmark card.
How can this verse be inspired by God, when it is so inhumane and gruesome?
But that is the point: God is revealing the horrors of sin and its terrible cost.
The Israelites are captives in Babylon (southern Iraq), and they were grief-stricken.
They had seen Jerusalem destroyed, people raped and killed, their babies dashed on rocks.
Mocked to sing their worship songs (v.3), instead they sing of God’s justice and mercy.
Justice for their oppressors – that they would experience the evil they had committed.
Mercy for the oppressed – that they would be healed, released and restored.
God is not approving of this violence, God hates it and wants to end it.
Happiness cannot be restored as long as the wicked and cruel endure.
It is not the dashing of any baby, but the rulers’ infants, the next generation of evil.
Bring justice to the wicked, so that they and their kind are terminated once and for all.
May we never experience such horrific evil, nor ever need to long for such justice.
But if we do, may we trust that God will one day make things right, for good!
PRAYER
Lord, you came as God’s ‘little one’, and were dashed on the rock (Golgotha). By this you defeated injustice, and will one day end it for good! Come quickly Lord!