Just Keep Singing

This powerful message confronts a reality many of us avoid discussing in church: the struggle to worship when life feels unfamiliar and painful. Drawing from Psalm 137, we encounter God's people in Babylon, far from Jerusalem, asking the haunting question: 'How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?' This isn't a lack of faith—it's the honest cry of broken hearts in ugly situations. We're reminded that not everyone enters their trial with Daniel's resolve; some of us are still godly, still love God, but honestly struggling. The sermon challenges our modern tendency to expect only victorious songs, reminding us that the same book of Psalms containing 'I will bless the Lord at all times' also holds the lament of those who hung their harps on willow trees and wept. The profound truth emerges: grief doesn't remove our ability to worship, it simply diminishes our desire. Like children who lose their appetite when sick, when we stop wanting to praise God, it's a symptom that something deeper needs healing. Yet the Israelites hung their harps on the trees—they didn't throw them away. The song was paused, not canceled. This teaches us that worship must become an act of willful devotion, not just emotional response. We learn to let our spirit man, quickened by God, lead our soul and body rather than being controlled by feelings and circumstances. The call is clear: keep singing, even through tears, even in strange places, because our song is our testimony that Babylon cannot take from us.