If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget how to play the harp.
6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I fail to remember you,
if I don’t make Jerusalem my greatest joy. vv.5-6
Read chapter 137
Do you know anyone that tries to forget their sorrows? Maybe by drinking or drugs or even just making themselves so busy they don't have time to think? Well that's what the psalmist is saying here in verse five, that he doesn't want to forget the sorrows of Jerusalem, their hometown, while they were in a foreign land being surrounded and indulged with that culture. Yet the psalmist doesn't want to forget, so much so that he says then let my right hand forget it's skill and that his tongue stick to his mouth so that he can not talk or sing. The right hand is the dominant hand for most people and not only would it not be able to play the harp but the majority of other daily living tasks and survival too. So they would rather be unskilled and mute then play and sing to the gods of Babylon. While they are by the rivers of Babylon, a great and prosperous nation, their greatest joy is in their home, where the Lord founded them and promised them as an inheritance, despite the state that is was then in from captivity. Even today we don't see Jerusalem as the city God once made it and intended it to be, but will be restored and become the capitol of the new earth, "And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband" Rev. 21:2.
How have you tried to forget your sorrows? What is good about remembering them?
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