Our Highest Joy

If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy! —Psalm 137:5–6

Babylon was an amazing empire. It was beautiful, affluent, and sophisticated. It would have been easy to settle in this earthly city of man and forget the true God and His worship. However, in Psalm 137:5–6, the psalmist promises not to forget his true home.

As we apply this passage to our own hearts as the people of God, we’re promising not to let our hearts become more attached to our earthly home than we are to our eternal home, the city of God. It’s a promise to love what God loves, to prize what He prizes, to value what He values. It’s a promise to treasure our heavenly, eternal home above every earthly joy, and of course, above every sinful pleasure.

But this is also a promise to love God, His people, His Church, and His kingdom more than anything on this earth no matter how much pleasure or joy we may think it brings us.