A song for pilgrams ascending to Jerusalem. A psalm of Soloman.
1 Unless the Lord builds a house,
the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless the Lord protects a city,
guarding it with sentries will do no good.
2 It is useless for you to work so hard
from early morning until late at night,
anxiously working for food to eat;
for God gives rest to his loved ones.
3 Children are a gift from the Lord;
they are a reward from him.
4 Children born to a young man
are like arrows in a warrior’s hands.
5 How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them!
He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.
When the kids were young, we went to visit Eddie in Texarkana. Running all over the place, the kids were lost in exploration. His place has a creek running through it, and yes, the girls had to get in it and play. Like a moth to a flame, so were the girls to this creek. After all the playing, a creek soup was fashioned, and the girls went up to Eddie and said, “Look, Grandpa, we made some soup for you!” Watching all this, I expected him to say great things and move on, but Addie pushed and said, “Grandpa, take a bite!” To my amazement, he did and swallowed it with a smile, cementing a moment in time we will never forget.
Psalm 127 is one of my favorites because it lays a clear foundation of life. “Unless the Lord” rings in my head whenever I build, begin, or labor in anything. Solomon writes that if you begin without the Lord, you labor in vain. The definition of vain is: 1. having or showing undue or excessive pride in one’s appearance or achievements, conceited. 2. marked by futility or ineffectualness.
No matter how hard we try to fix ourselves or begin again, if we are not doing it with Christ, it is in vain. It is nothing more than an arrogant, ineffective attempt at what only God can do. The girls were diligent in making the creek soup, but they started without knowledge of the real cooks. In other words, the creek soup was never going to provide real nourishment for Grandpa’s body, it will forever be just something to play with.
Your life is nothing to play with. You affect real people every day, and you build relationships every day. Unless you start with the Lord, it all is in vain, an arrogant, ineffective attempt that produces something you do not want. The end of the Psalm is my answer to all parents everywhere: “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are the children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.” Everyone is someone’s child, a reward from the Lord. Blessed is the one who has many. Unless the Lord, you are a blessing and reward from the Lord. Let that sink into your head every day. We are not creek soup some cosmic being is playing with. No, we are children of the Most High God, and He loves us. His desire is for us to get to know Him and walk with Him in perfect peace, no matter the situation.
Prayer: Father, I pray that we keep You on our minds and hearts and at the front of all our decisions every day. I thank You for divine rest for those who love the Lord. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let It Go 
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