How Do We Sing the Lord’s Song in a Foreign Land?

On the eve of the five-year anniversary of Reformation Bible College, President Dr. Stephen J. Nichols spoke at chapel on Psalm 137. He posed a question to the students: How do we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? The answer was simple: focus on Scripture.

Since its founding, Reformation Bible College has emphasized the importance of Scripture. Dr. R.C. Sproul often puts it this way: It is not enough to read the Bible; you have to study the Bible. As Christians, we are living in a foreign land, for the earth is not our home. This can be easy to forget when the land is not all that foreign to us. We sing the Lord’s song, repeating the truths of Scripture to ourselves and each other, so that we do not forget that we are strangers here and our true home is in heaven.

It is easy to leave the true joy found in Christ and to replace it with lesser forms. As Dr. Nichols put it, “The love of God causes us to have contempt on all that God does not love.” In a foreign land, it is easy to be tempted away from love of God and instead to love what the world loves. That is why we need to study Scripture: it drives us to humility, worship, love, and devotion to God.