Unless the Lord Builds the House

I'm reading through the Bible chronologically this year- one of its benefits is that it helps me make connections that I have skipped over in the past.

For several years I have found encouragement in Psalm 127, particularly verses 1 and 2. Solomon writes that

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.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for He gives to His beloved sleep.

This psalm has often seemed particularly significant fto me, as I've wrestled with anxiety or feeling the need to prove my relationship with the Lord.  But I had never found significance in its author. But this time, it was placed (chronologically) in the context of Solomon's life, which gave greater depth to the psalm itself.

Solomon is known in scripture for building God's house, the temple in Jerusalem.  I suspect that, when Solomon writes "Unless the Lord builds the house", he is thinking of just that project. In many ways, the temple is the crowning achievement of Solomon's reign- yet, unless the Lord was to build it, the builders would labor in vain.

Similarly, Solomon is recorded as fortifying Israel like no man before him, buying and stockpiling weapons and defenses, and amassing an army like none Israel had ever seen.  Yet, unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. None of it matters if the Lord is not with him.

As I read over this late one evening, I was reminded that, no matter what I seek to build- a career, a ministry, a community- my building is in vain unless the Lord builds it. No matter what I guard, it is in vain unless He guards it. Which at first seems fatalistic- but I've come to believe that this is really good news for me. Though it does leave me helpless in my own abilities, it leaves me more secure than anything else in the world.  Because it puts my security, my trust, in Him. And He is good, and His nature is always to have mercy, and always to do what is best for His children.  I can sleep with Him as my Lord.

Often, when discouraged in my walk with the Lord, I look for a spiritual remedy, something to restore me to the joy of my salvation. Acts speaks of 'times of refreshing' from the presence of the Lord- how I long for those! I wish I longed more for, and experienced more of, that presence.

Yet when I find that He feels distant, often when I am stretched thin or tired, this passage comforts me. It reminds me that I am small, and that He knows I am just dust. It reminds me that He has given very earthly things (like sleep) for my good. And in it the Lord reminds me that I may find rest in His strength, even when my strength fails. That I can trust in the house that He is building, and the city that He is guarding.