By the Waters of Babylon
De Morgan, Evelyn, 1855-1919. By the Waters of Babylon, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57161 [retrieved September 30, 2022]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:By_the_Waters_of_Babylon_(1882-1883).jpg.
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Where I Belong by Switchfoot
Exploring the Text: Extreme emotions
Just as Jeremiah mourned the devastation of Jerusalem, so did those who were carried away in to Babylon. As you read this psalm, you hear the depths of despair and even the hunger for revenge. As we read this, it should be shocking to us that the people of God would long for Babylon to be destroyed and even their little children to be violently murdered. Obviously, this is not God’s desire, but what we have here is the raw response of those who are in pain.
We sometimes try to hide our deepest, darkest, most disturbing thought and feelings. These people did not, however. They laid them openly before God. They did not try to hide, cover up, or sanitize what they were feeling. They just opened their hearts, good, bad, and ugly, to God. God can handle our extreme emotions. He can handle the darkest thoughts and feelings in our hearts. He is not dissuaded by who we are and what we may be feeling. And he loves us in the middle of all of it. When we open the deepest, darkest parts of our hearts and minds to Jesus, he can begin to breath healing and restoration even there. Don’t hide the worst parts of ourselves from God, instead, invite him in and let him bring his healing and restoration.
David W. Dalton
Just as Jeremiah mourned the devastation of Jerusalem, so did those who were carried away in to Babylon. As you read this psalm, you hear the depths of despair and even the hunger for revenge. As we read this, it should be shocking to us that the people of God would long for Babylon to be destroyed and even their little children to be violently murdered. Obviously, this is not God’s desire, but what we have here is the raw response of those who are in pain.
We sometimes try to hide our deepest, darkest, most disturbing thought and feelings. These people did not, however. They laid them openly before God. They did not try to hide, cover up, or sanitize what they were feeling. They just opened their hearts, good, bad, and ugly, to God. God can handle our extreme emotions. He can handle the darkest thoughts and feelings in our hearts. He is not dissuaded by who we are and what we may be feeling. And he loves us in the middle of all of it. When we open the deepest, darkest parts of our hearts and minds to Jesus, he can begin to breath healing and restoration even there. Don’t hide the worst parts of ourselves from God, instead, invite him in and let him bring his healing and restoration.
David W. Dalton
Spiritual Practices: Breath Prayer
Overview
Just as the Jewish captives in Babylon were able to open up their hearts to God, even their desire for bloody and violent retribution on the city of Babylon, we should be willing to share the deepest, darkest part of ourselves with our heavenly Father as well. God can handle our darkest, most extreme emotions and, when we invite him into those places, he can begin healing our hearts and our minds. That is what this breath prayer is about.
Prayer
Abba Father, come into the darkest part of what I feel.
Overview
Just as the Jewish captives in Babylon were able to open up their hearts to God, even their desire for bloody and violent retribution on the city of Babylon, we should be willing to share the deepest, darkest part of ourselves with our heavenly Father as well. God can handle our darkest, most extreme emotions and, when we invite him into those places, he can begin healing our hearts and our minds. That is what this breath prayer is about.
Prayer
Abba Father, come into the darkest part of what I feel.