A picture is painted from familiar words. It depicts a people removed from their homeland. They were held captive and forced to leave their homes. The place they could no longer return to was their promised home. It was where they were supposed to live before the Lord and be His family. Only now, they were prisoners, exiled and far from Him. They sat down by rivers that flowed in another direction. The picture is one of tragedy and despair.
Many people have read the words. And even in song, they return to us. But the significance will be lost unless we sit ourselves down and ponder them further. The picture painted of people by the rivers of Babylon is of us. It may have been written about others in the past. But it is just as true of us today. We have also lost our promised land. We were supposed to be living where the Lord our God wanted us to be. His intended home for us was before Him, reveling in His presence and worshipping Him in gladness. But we did not share His dream. Now, we are far from Him.
So, if we open our eyes and look around us today, we will see that the rivers where we are do not flow towards our home. We will recognize the distance between where we sit and where the Lord intended us to be. Let us cry. Let us weep when we remember the beauty of being before God. If we can recognize our tragic state, then we can turn our hearts to Him again. We can empty our souls of everything else. We can make a void within that our Heavenly Father can see. The home He desired to have with us is also where we long to be.
Searching For Christ 
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