One summer break when I was a kid, my neighborhood buddies and I decided it would be a good idea to build a fort in my backyard. We had some woods at the back of the property and a huge field behind that. It seemed like the perfect place to build a fort.
Dad gave me permission to use as much wood as I wanted from the old scrap pile. I grabbed tool belts, hammers, nails and hand saws. I had a vision of building a house, but no real knowledge. I told the guys what I was thinking and we began to build. We had corner posts connected by 2x4. I had no idea how to build a frame and neither did my friends. We started putting on a roof, but I knew there needed to be more support.
I ran to the house to get some water. On my way back, my friend had climbed up on top and was nailing in boards. However, the support was never put in place and the whole structure toppled over. Praise God nobody was hurt. It was a great idea, and a lot of fun, but we failed miserably. Why?
We didn’t know what we were doing. We didn’t ask my dad, who knew how to do it. We didn’t consult a carpenter. We just did our own thing, according to our understanding. In the end, we had a pile of rubbish and a few bruises.
Psalm 127, our second Psalm of Ascent for today, describes this reality when it comes to life.
“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”
The psalmist uses the illustration of building a house as an allegory for life and work. Really an endeavor we put our minds to fits into this illustration. When we do it our own way, like my club house, it will end up in shambles. But if the LORD builds the house it will succeed.
What does it mean for the “Lord to build the house”?
It is drawing out the point that we often attempt things in our own power according to our own will. One of my friends put it this way after a failure, “I realize I thought of something good to do and invited God along with me, rather than looking to God to see what He would have me do.”
Proverbs 3:5–6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Our ways are messed up. We are human, this means we are limited and we are sinners. Even the good things we come up with are tainted with our own mistakes. To build a house is a good thing, but to do it apart from God’s will is not going to prosper.
In America, we have become so task drive, work driven, materialistic and hedonistic (pursuit of pleasure). We slave away in a “dog eat dog” world. The psalmist points out that we are “eating bread of anxious toil.” When we pursue work according to this world’s philosophy, we will wind up stressed out, anxious and depressed.
If God isn’t in it, you are wasting your time. This doesn’t mean work is worthless. No, it is telling us that work has value and has the potential to be worship. Your work, the vocation you find yourself in, can be worship when it is centered on God.
More important than getting the highest grades, getting the dream job that pays a ton of money, is seeking to honor God with who you are and what you do. If God is not in it, you home and your security are at risk.
Value Relationships Over Tasks
As we move into the next section, verses 3-5, notice how he shifts attention to the work of the family. The family is a gift from God. The family is to be cherished and honored. There is no more important work than being a good father, a good mother, a good son, a good daughter, a good brother or a good sister. God instituted the family in the Garden of Eden.
Ephesians 5 shows us that the marriage relationship was given to us as a picture of Christ’s love for the church. The true meaning of marriage is to teach us an important truth about the God we serve: He is a relational God.
Matthew 22:37–40
[37] And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. [38] This is the great and first commandment. [39] And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. [40] On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
What God is most concerned about for your life and your vocation is that you love Him first, not your job, not your success, not your wealth. His second priority is that you love others, starting in your home and working out to others.
Don’t miss how important Matthew 22:40 is! All the Law and the Prophets depend, or hang on, these two priorities. The Triune Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, have been in perfect relationship for all eternity! He created us relational beings, to be in a relationship with Him and to reflect His relationship with others.
The Christian needs to be focused on their love for Jesus and learn how to cultivate loving relationships with others. This means that we should value relationships above tasks.
“People are at the center of Christian work…The character of our work is shaped not by accomplishments or possessions but in the birth of relationships: “Children are GOD’s best gift.” We invest our energy in people.” – Eugene Peterson
Students’ primary work today is their education, but education should not take away from family time, or be placed above people. Our jobs are very important, but are we working to benefit others or seeking to benefit by taking advantage of others? Each day we have the opportunity to invest in others, to learn about others and to help others feel less alone in this world.
Most importantly, Christians should love others enough to share the Good News about Jesus Christ with others. God invites us into a love relationship with Him and He asks us to invite others into the family of God. How can we work toward bringing others into the family of faith?
When I was a kid, I tried to build a fort by my own understanding and it failed. Time and time again in life, I try to do things according to my own wisdom and fail. God calls us to come to Him, to trust Him and to follow His plan and He will build the house, safe and secure.
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