Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it

Psalm 127 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Prosperity Comes from the Lord.

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 Matthew 16:13-19 it says:   Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”  It is upon the rock, the solid foundation of the revelation and knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah, that Jesus says He will build His church. Psalm 89:14 says:  Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.    God is a God of love and kindness. His truth is absolute, but the foundation of His throne; of His authority, is righteousness and justice. Jesus is the One through whom God gave us justice. Jesus died for our sins so that we could live in His righteousness and know and experience the love and kindness of God. It is upon that truth that our lives are established and founded.

In today’s text the psalmist says:   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. 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.  Our nation was built upon the knowledge that God is a just and righteous God and upon the truth that Jesus is the Christ. It is upon that foundation that our nation became the richest and most powerful nation in the world, because of God’s love, His mercy, His grace and His righteousness and justice. Many today want to lay a new foundation in our nation. They desire to build upon the vanity of people. They believe that justice comes from elimination of the law and those who enforce it. Romans 13:1-7 says:  Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake.For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.   Keep in mind that Paul wrote this while he was imprisoned unjustly by the Roman government; a cruel and oppressive authority; the same government that over saw the crucifixion of Jesus, who Himself submitted to its authority.  So, it is not that government or authorities are perfect, all are flawed and many are evil. Still, without authority and enforcement of the law there is no justice. Apart from authority, good will become subject to evil. It is vanity to believe that a city can be built without watchmen and it is even more vain not to submit to the authority of God and His Christ.

The psalmist says:  Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth.  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. Our society and culture no longer see children as a gift of God. Often children are seen not as a reward, but as a curse or an inconvenience. In Deuteronomy 11:16-20 God said:  Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them. Or the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you. You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates…  Proverbs 22:6 says: Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.   Rather than training our children to obey the commandments of God, we have spoiled and indulged them. We are seeing generation which testify of the truth of proverbs 22:6. These children have grown to become self-indulgent, spoiled and entitled. Even when they are old, they will not depart from the way they were trained up. Winston Churchill said:  If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty, you have no brain.  It is normal that children may stray as they seek truth, but if they have been given truth, they may return to truth. When society says there is no truth; that each person has their own truth, then truth becomes relative and is subject to the whims of each individual. If there is no foundation, there is nothing to build on or even to stand on.  In Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus says:   “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”  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.

1. My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

2. When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

3. His oath, His covenant, and blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When every earthly prop gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

4. When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found,
Clothed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne!
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

Amen.