Psalm 127: You and Me

Today’s reading is Psalm 127.

The Pilgrim and Us

We often say (I think I’ve even said it in this series on the Songs of Ascents) we need to pray like it all depends on God and work like it all depends on us. In the situational contexts in which we say that, I think we are speaking truth. Usually, we say that when we are talking to folks who want to pray and then do nothing. We know God works when we work. We know our work is the seed in the field God will irrigate to bring forth fruit beyond our imagination and ability.

That being said, Psalm 127 says we should perhaps modify the second half of that statement. Regrettably, I have been unable to come up with a catchy and clever way of saying it, but stick with me and I hope to make it clear.

As we’ve followed the story of the pilgrim in these Songs of Ascents, we watched him choose to leave the warmongering lands of Meshech and Kedar to pursue the city of peace. He walked up the mountain trails until he arrived in Jerusalem. When he got there, he knew if the Lord hadn’t been with Him along the way, he would never have made it. Yet, even there he endured mockery and contempt from the proud. He knew his only source of mercy was his master, YHWH. Sometimes, it even seemed the scepter of wickedness continued to rule. However, He understood God would never allow that to continue. Sometimes it felt like God was distant. He reminded himself even though he couldn’t see God, God was just like the mountains surrounding Jerusalem–always there. Yet, life continued on, day after day. Sometimes his own spiritual well ran dry. He recalled the times of refreshing restoration, he looked ahead to times of restoring refreshment. In that dry time, he kept working. Though he took his seed bag out to the field with tears, he also went out praying for God to fulfill His promises and with faith God would do exactly that. In Psalm 127, we find the pilgrim working. He is in God’s city, working on the Lord’s house. And isn’t that precisely where we find ourselves in our pilgrimage.

Certainly, the pilgrim was to work hard when he was working, and so must we. After all, Scripture elsewhere says whatever work we do, we should do with all our might ( Ecclesiastes 9:10). However, Psalm 127 explains if we’re not working with God, our work is vain. If we’re building the house without the Lord, we labor in vain. If we’re staying on guard overnight, but the Lord isn’t protecting the city, our watchfulness is useless. The Lord’s involvement doesn’t mean we quit building and watching; it does mean the effectiveness and productivity of the work do not depend entirely upon us. If we don’t work, God has nothing to magnify and multiply. However, when we work, trusting and relying on the Lord, He increases the effectiveness and productivity of the work beyond our capabilities. Additionally, because He is working, we discover rest. We don’t have to burn the candle at both ends thinking each minute of sleep costs us a minute of productivity and profit. As Psalm 121:3-4 said, the God who watches over us and keeps us doesn’t slumber. He keeps working even while we sleep.

As I try to grasp the balance the pilgrim presents, I think of the one-talent man in Jesus’s Matthew 25 parable. His words said he believed in the Psalm 127 God. His Master was so amazing, He could reap where He didn’t sow and gather where He scattered no seed. The man’s actions, however, said he didn’t really believe in that God. He seemed to think the whole thing depended on himself and was afraid he would mess it up. So he did nothing. The Master explained if the man had really believed the Master was that awesome, he should have at least done something with his one talent. If nothing else, he should have taken it to the bank so it could gain interest. That was an action whose effectiveness and productivity the Master could and would multiply. But putting the talent in a hole in the ground was not. In other words, the man didn’t need to live in anxious fear that his work was not good enough, strong enough, effective enough to bring profit to the Master. After all, it was the Master’s talent to begin with and it was the Master’s ability to reap where He didn’t sow that would make the work with the talent effective and productive. But, the man did need to work with the talent.

So, perhaps, instead of saying we need to work like it all depends on us while we pray like it all depends on God, we should instead say we should work like we know everything we do will be multiplied by God and pray for God to multiply.

In any event, our pilgrim highlights the two extremes we struggle with as we reside in Christ’s holy city, striving to build His holy house. Some want to do nothing, expecting God to do all the building and watching. Others spend their days in anxious toil, fearing they can’t have a moment’s rest lest they disappoint God and cost Him profit. The pilgrim knows we rest in the Lord. That is, we trust the Lord. We do what He tells us to, meaning we work the way He says and we rest the way he says. And in that approach, even our work, though sometimes strenuous, is never anxious. Then we watch as God multiplies our work beyond our ability. And we know, those results are God’s, not ours.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 127.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 127 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Psalm 127: Solomon

Today’s reading is Psalm 127.

The King Who Built God’s House

We may have struggled to see the Abraham and David layers of Psalm 127, the Solomon layer is obvious. The psalm is even labeled, “A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.” Whether Solomon wrote the psalm in his own day of building the Lord’s house or some other author wrote it years later and labeled it such to say he was talking about Solomon, either way, the label makes the connection clear.

We learned yesterday David wanted to build the Lord’s house, but the Lord would not build with him. So David didn’t build. Rather, he prepared so Solomon could build. And Solomon did build. The Lord was with him. In 1 Kings 8:10-11, God accepted Solomon’s temple as His house. His glory took residence (see also 2 Chronicles 5:13-14).

In 2 Samuel 12:25, when David gave Solomon his name, the Lord sent a message of comfort and love. Therefore, David gave a second name to his son: Jedidiah. The name means “beloved of YHWH.” The root of the first part of the name is the same word we find in Psalm 127:2. The Lord gives sleep to his “beloved,” that is, His Jedid.

This makes some interesting connections. David stayed up late and rose early in prayer when Bathsheba’s first son with him was dying. It did absolutely no good. However, Solomon the beloved was himself a heritage from the Lord for David. He was more than a stone in David’s sling, he was an arrow in David’s quiver. Though Solomon was a king of peace, he did the work on David’s behalf that David was not given permission to do. Though David may have felt shame when God refused to let him build the temple, his son’s work removed that shame.

At another level, we discover there is a translation question in the last line of vs. 2. It can mean, as per the ESV, “he gives to his beloved sleep.” But it can also mean, as per NASB95, “He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.” Both essentially make the same point. In the former, rather than forcing His beloved to toil the night away, God blesses the work of His beloved so the beloved can sleep. In the latter, God so blesses His beloved that even while the beloved sleeps, God increases the effectiveness and produce of the beloved’s work. With Solomon, though, this second meaning surely makes us think of the night God came to Solomon in a dream and asked him to make whatever request he would. Solomon prayed for wisdom. God gave him wisdom, wealth, and long life (1 Kings 3:3-15; 2 Chronicles 1:7-13). God gave to the beloved even in his sleep.

Sadly, Solomon, in later years let his wives turn him from YHWH. The Lord ceased to watch over Solomon’s house and city. The kingdom was torn from the hand of his son Rehoboam except for a small part of it that allowed David’s dynasty to remain until the time of Jesus. In this way, Solomon becomes an example of both sides of Psalm 127. And what a reminder for those who collected these Songs of Ascents in the time of restoration after the fullness of Solomon’s own rebellion had worked its way through the generations until God did destroy the house and the city. As the pilgrims sang these songs in the return from Babylon and the restoration of Judah, the house and city were being rebuilt. But Solomon himself stands as a promise and a warning. Rest in the Lord and the house and city will stand. Turn from Him again and it will fall again.

Of course, that is exactly what happened in 70AD because the people did not see the truly blessed son, the truly blessed arrow in the quiver of Abraham, David, and Solomon.

But our pilgrim recognizes in these layers this is how God works. He does it again and again and again. He promises and covenants. Those who rest in His promises, simply doing what He says, and trusting Him to bring the victory are blessed.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 127.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 127 prompt or improve your trust in God?