"Present Work"

"Happy shall they be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." (Psalms 137:9)

  It might not be easy to understand, but it is all about purpose and fulfilling the work that God is doing, presently, not what has been done in the past, but in this moment and beyond. At the start of this Psalm, we could see the memory of all the work God had previously done; the memory of all that was and how it was; which in and of itself is not that bad to reflect upon, but counting upon it for the way things should happen now, there is where we can become, shall we say, a little disappointed. In the example given by Matthew Henry, God's plan to carry out what is being spoken of in these few verses, was to be carried out by a man named Cyrus; who God referred to as His servant, His shepherd, and His anointed. (Isaiah 44:28, 45:1) I guess what it is God is trying to say, is that He gets to determine what it takes to make His purposes work, because He knows the outcome of everything that comes next! And yes, even those things which happen from the things we do, or don't do, those too He knows the outcome of, hundreds and even thousands of years from when they happen. Crazy as it might sound, but there is a certain pleasure that comes with doing something that you know you are created to do; which is what the happy refers to in these last two verses. There is always a work God is doing, as the Scriptures say, "Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." (Psalms 121:3) Even in the 400 plus years of His silence, He still was always working and preparing for His Son's arrival here on earth; just as He is preparing now for His Son's soon return. It will be something hard to watch; it will be something even harder to try and live through; but nonetheless, it will be His doing it and His purposes that will be fulfilled from it. Heaven is from where He carries out all of His plans, so looking for the answers to be manifested here are pretty much meaningless. Everything that is here is temporary and changes; but He always remains the same, He never changes! His Word too never changes! No matter what the world might be doing, and whatever direction it might be going in, His Word remains the same; which, in case you need to know what that means, it means that His Word works in us today, just as it worked in others yesterday, and just as it will work others tomorrow; and it is all according to His purposes, not ours. Remember this: that it was God who sent the armies of Babylon to carry His children away; it was God that held them in captivity; and it was God that sent Cyrus to deliver them and rebuild Jerusalem. All according to His purposes...

"For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then we do with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intersession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn of many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." (Romans 8:24-30)