Skip to main content

Building and Protecting: Thoughts on Psalm 127:1

Image
By
“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Psalm 127:1).

Psalm 127 was written by King Solomon as a “Song of Ascents.” These Psalms were sung in ancient days by the Israelites as they traveled up to Jerusalem for an appointed feast or necessary gathering. So picture a group of people walking up a mountain pass and singing along the way, and as their eyes light upon the sacred temple in Jerusalem they begin to sing the words, “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

In their day, Solomon was building many things. He built the Temple, a magnificent palace, and other civic and cultural structures. Tens of thousands of Israelites served as laborers in the King’s endeavors, and so for the people of that day these words were particularly pregnant: “Unless the LORD build the house, those who build it labor in vain.

Additionally, as it is today, the city of Jerusalem was the most sacred city in Israel. It was surrounded by a magnificent wall on which were stationed “watchmen” who kept guard over the city and warned its citizens of approaching armies or various threats. The responsibility they bore was enormous, for if they failed at their job, they paid with their lives. The people were well aware of this, and so for them these words too were particularly pregnant: “Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

From their point of view, what do you think these twin phrases meant? Here’s my best guess. They meant that God’s will supersedes human will; that God’s endeavors supersede human endeavors. And the implication is that before we begin to labor on this or that, we should take the time to discern what God himself is laboring on. Fruitfulness and success comes from building what Christ is building.

Further, unlike the Israelites, we don’t watch over cities from ramparts and walls, but we do protect many things in our lives: our family, homes, possessions, investments, relationships, etc. Therefore, we should take the time to discern what God is protecting and join him in protecting those things, rather than seeking to shield things that God may desire to destroy.

And it seems to me, that this really comes down to the daily discipline of prayerful Bible reading, study, and memory. Our fruit, success, and joy come from being involved with the things God is involved in, and this requires that we take the time to listen and discern. So let us search our hearts and habits, and resolve to seek the One who is building and protecting that we might join in his most sacred work.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reflective Glory: How the Moon Displays the Mercy of God

By
Our sun is a fitting metaphor for the glory of God. In the context of our solar system, it is massive, bright, beautiful, powerful, self-sufficient, heat-producing, life-giving, and dangerous. It is, by far, the dominant feature of our solar system and without it the system would fling apart and all living things therein would die.  On the other hand, our moon is a fitting metaphor for human beings, especially for those who believe in Jesus Christ. First, compared to the sun, the moon is tiny and dim. The sun is 400 times larger than the moon, its mass is 27 million times greater than the mass of the moon, and from our perspective its light shines 450,000 times brighter than that of the moon. The sun is so much greater than the moon that it’s difficult to quantify and express the difference. Likewise, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is so much great than each and all of us that it’s impossible to quantify or express the difference. Indeed, the Lord is very great and greatly...
Post a Comment
Read more

To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord, by George Muller

By Anonymous
To Have My Soul Happy in the Lord By George Muller “It has pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, the benefit of which I have not lost for more than fourteen years. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, or how I might glorify the Lord, but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. “I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God—not prayer, but the Word of God. And here again, not the simple reading of the Word of God so that it only passes through my mind just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what I read, pondering over it, and applying it to my heart. To meditate on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed. And that thus,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rejoicing in the Wrath of God: Part 1 by Pastor Charlie Handren

By Anonymous
This Sunday we resume our study of the book of Revelation and within the first eight verses of chapter 6 we will encounter the wrath of God being poured out upon the world. In one sense, being confronted with the reality of God’s wrath is uncomfortable at best, but in another sense, it fills the believing heart with joy.  One of the first essays I wrote in college was on the wrath and love of God, and probably the main effect it has had on my life is to cause joy to rise up in my heart whenever I contemplate God’s wrath. Sometime ago I shared this with a pastor friend of mine and though he said nothing in response, he looked at me as if to say, “If you knew anything about the wrath of God, you would not rejoice in it.” At the time, I wasn't sure how to respond, but I knew that the joy in my heart was not stemming from a belittling of the horror of the wrath of God. Then several years ago, as I was reading through Revelation, I came across a couple of passages in chapters 15 and 16 ...
Post a Comment
Read more