Unless the Lord builds the house...

Psalm 127 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.
² It is vain for you to rise up early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

³ Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
⁵ How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They will not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

In John 15: 4-5 Jesus says:     Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.   The psalmist and Jesus basically agree, it’s not that nothing at all can be accomplished apart from abiding in Jesus, it’s simply that what is done apart from Him, what is done without the Lord is vanity. Vanity is defined as: excessive pride in one's appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements, etc. conceit:  lack of real value; hollowness; worthlessness:  something worthless, trivial, or pointless.(Dictionary.com)  The psalmist says: Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it;   In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says: upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.   Jesus says His church will be built upon the revelation that He is the Christ, the anointed, chosen one, the Messiah, the Lord and King, the deliverer. Unless our church, our house, anything that we build is built upon that same foundation, They labor in vain who build it. All that man can do, even the good works, even the great accomplishments, all is vanity, worthless, trivial in the scheme of eternity.

The psalmist says: Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.  There are many today who have appointed themselves as watchmen of our society and culture. They have designated themselves as the ones who are responsible for guarding our society. These self appointed watchmen however do not watch and guard as God does. They believe that they know better. They have welcomed in things that God would not allow. They in fact believe that God is the one we should guard against, that it is God and His righteousness which must be kept out of our cities, our schools, our work places, completely removed from our society. While they may have influence for a time, in the end it will be God who determines what will be. Man and his ways may change, for a time moving the line between what is right and what is wrong. But God is the same yesterday, today and forever. It is vanity for man to think he can change what God says is truth. It is vanity for watchmen to open the gates of society to the things God guards against.

The psalmist says:  It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep. In Genesis 3:17-19 God said: Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.  “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field;  By the sweat of your face You will eat bread.       It is vanity to continue in sin, to toil and labor against God’s will. Jesus says:     “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)   When we are yoked to Jesus, working and walking in step with Him we will have rest, peace and comfort even in the difficult things we face.

This psalm was written by Solomon. In Ecclesiastes 1:2 he writes: “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” In chapter 12 he says:  “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”  In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs.  The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly.  The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd.  But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.  The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.  For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.    Amen