YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE UNTIL IT’S GONE

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.

Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!” Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us. Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

Psalm 137

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Recently, I returned from a trip where I was at sea with a group of Sailors who has been away from home for more than nine months. As I trained those who were coming home to their spouses, children, extended family, and friends, I asked this simple question:

“Do you appreciate those you left behind more than you did before you left?”

The response was a unanimous “yes”.

There’s something about a separation from things dear to us that brings us to a place where we value people more than we did before we departed. Sometimes, we don’t know what we truly have until we don’t have it anymore.

Maybe you have examples of this kind of experience in your life. I think my first one was when I went through one of the darkest times in my life as my first marriage ended. I had been married nearly ten years at the breakup and had fathered two children who went with my wife when she left. Suddenly, I was left alone, void of those who had mattered the most to me.

In the years that would follow, I would come to understand just how much I missed them and the life we had together. I also came to realize where I had failed in many ways, failing to be the spiritual leader that my family needed and failing to fully appreciate my spouse and the family we had formed together. It was too late to come to this realization afterwards. The damage was unfortunately done.

Sometimes you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

I think the people of Israel, and particularly the author of the 137th Psalm, were going through these same feelings. Look at their words:

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.

You’ll recall that the divided kingdom fell in two parts. The northern kingdom was defeated and taken off by the mighty Assyrians. A short time later, it was the southern kingdom of Judah that would fall into the hands of the Babylonians and begin a judgment from God that would last for 70 years. It was in the midst of this exile that we read the lamenting words of the psalmist.

We can choose to sympathize with the psalmist’s feelings but we also have to consider what might have been had the Israelites not decided that sin was more important to them than obedience to the God who had made Jerusalem (also referred to as Zion) His dwelling place.

In other words, the Israelites’ exile was a product of their own sin. Take that away and they would never had left Jerusalem in the first place.

If they only had appreciated fully what they had when they had it.

If I only had appreciated the family I had while I had it.

Sometimes you don’t know what you have until you don’t have it anymore.

Friends, there are deep lessons to be learned here, both from the scriptures and from the testimonies of others like myself who are unafraid to bare their souls and tell about the mistakes they have made in life. For me, it’s worth it if I can prevent even one person from repeating the same mistake.

So I ask you these questions today:

Are you fully appreciating what God has given you in life?

Are you living in obedience to Him, honoring Him by giving Him your life in return for all He has given you to include His only Son Jesus, your Savior?

Friends, I plead of you. Please don’t end up like I did. Please don’t end up like the Israelites. Please don’t end up not knowing what you have until it’s gone.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com