Unless The Lord Builds The House

By Helen Devenish, http://www.lovehobart.com/art.html

Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain...

Sons are indeed a heritage from the LORD, children, a reward. 
-Psalm 127:1a, 3

This psalm is a word of wisdom about God's sovereignty and a warning against self-sufficiency.(1)  It is interesting that the word builders in verse 1 is a pun (2) on the word Sons (Children) in verse 3.  The house is a metaphor for family.  The parents are the builders and they build their children.

"Unless the Lord builds the house", says that it simply is not going to turn out well, unless God is involved in your life.  There are only two paths in life; the Lord's path, and the other path.  It is a deception to think there are a variety of paths.  As Jesus said, there's the narrow way and the wide way (Matt. 7:13).

"Unless the Lord builds the house", is a reminder that the "One thing" that is important, is to dwell in the house of the Lord forever (Psalm 27:4).  Our whole lives are about building with God and dwelling with God.

When we pass away from our earthly lives, we only take with us our relationship with the Lord and our relationships in the Lord.  A life that rejects the Lord is meaningless, while a life in the Lord is full of meaning.

When he was preparing his disciples for his death on the cross, Jesus declared, "In my Father's house, there are many dwelling places", and, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him." (John 14:2, 23).  Jesus was not talking about heaven, but about believers, on earth, dwelling with or being indwelt by God.

We can rest assured that God builds families.  There are two kinds of building: the Lord's and vain.  There are places in the New Testament where Jesus declares that he will build.  He will rebuild his temple, his body that is destroyed; and he will build his church.

The way of building with God is to let God lead, then follow.  It seems to me that the vain building is when we don't follow God, as in God's building action.  The fact that God builds gives me hope.



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The painting above is by Helen Devensih, found here.  

I previously wrote on Psalm 127: Building What God is Building Psalm 127

The Sovereignty of God:
A Non-Calvinist, Relational View of God’s Sovereignty; by Roger E. Olson

Ask an Open Theist (Greg Boyd)…Response (The 5th question: Stephen: How do you feel that open theism works in relation to the concept of the "Sovereignty" of God?
Footnotes:

1. Word Biblical Commentary, Psalms 101-150. Leslie C. Allen, p.180
2.  College Press NIV Commentary, Psalms, S. Edward Tesh & Walter Zorn, p. 420