Where Will The Prisoners Sing?

Jack Davis

Ps. 137:1-4, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the LORD’S song in a strange land?”

Acts 16:23-26, “And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.”

Where are we dwelling? Where do we make ourselves at home? Are we setting down by the rivers of Babylon? They will be dried up. Are we weeping there? Thank God we have been called to the river of the water of life – Rev. 22:1.

Are we dwelling in a strange land? Roaming around Rome, babbling down in Babylon? Where are our harps? Does Babylon have weeping willows for it’s captives? Do our instruments of mirth belong on the willows? Who put them there and why? Why are our harps just hanging? When they should be accompanying and enhancing our singing.

Babylon means confusion, I guess that is a proper place for groaning and moaning the blues. Are we so far out of the will of God, or out of fellowship with Him, that we cannot sing the Lord’s song? Is He more than a prayer away? It is true, the willows of Babylon are no place for the harps of Zion. We seem to be often in a strange land or a far country. But whatever our situation, with faith’s focus on our deliverer we certainly can tune our harps and sing the Lord’s song.  

Now just being mindful of where we have come from and where we might have been, is only part of the story. Our song soars up to celestial realms as we consider our destiny. Thank God this world is not our home. Glory to Go, our prison songs may also be the song of the soul set free. Oh, when we get into cramped quarters, or in dire straights, what song will the surrounding prisoners hear? Some songs precede the shaking open of prisons, even to the liberating of prison keepers.