Two Vain Things
The psalmist told us about two things that are always done in vain. (Psalm 127:1) It is not good to do something in vain. That means we waste our time and effort, because it will not be able to be done. So what are those two things? Let me share them with you, because we all need to know them.
"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." That does not mean the physical structure of a house. It means the home within the house. It is a way of saying the family. Therefore, it is vain to try to build a family without God doing it. What does that mean? We must begin and end the process by asking God to give us His direction and His power to do all that we must do to be a good husband, wife, or parent. If we do not depend on Him and do it His way, we will fail, and the family will not be what He designed it to be. Also, part of that process is following what the Lord said in His Word about the family, the role of a husband, the role of a wife, and the role of parents. The Bible tells us much of His direction, but we still need His very specific direction, day by day.
"Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stays awake in vain." Have you noticed how violent and out of control our cities seem to be? We are not being attacked by enemies from outside of the city, but our cities are suffering from the fact that God is not watching over them. The reason He is not watching over the cities of America is that the government has not asked Him to be involved. They hire more police. They put in more security cameras, and they have all types of plans to keep people safe, but none of it is working. Without inviting God to be our Watchmen and doing what He says to watch out for, we will never see improvement. God knows how to build a city and watch over it, but we are ignoring the most important One for the success of our cities.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 130-133.
"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." That does not mean the physical structure of a house. It means the home within the house. It is a way of saying the family. Therefore, it is vain to try to build a family without God doing it. What does that mean? We must begin and end the process by asking God to give us His direction and His power to do all that we must do to be a good husband, wife, or parent. If we do not depend on Him and do it His way, we will fail, and the family will not be what He designed it to be. Also, part of that process is following what the Lord said in His Word about the family, the role of a husband, the role of a wife, and the role of parents. The Bible tells us much of His direction, but we still need His very specific direction, day by day.
"Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stays awake in vain." Have you noticed how violent and out of control our cities seem to be? We are not being attacked by enemies from outside of the city, but our cities are suffering from the fact that God is not watching over them. The reason He is not watching over the cities of America is that the government has not asked Him to be involved. They hire more police. They put in more security cameras, and they have all types of plans to keep people safe, but none of it is working. Without inviting God to be our Watchmen and doing what He says to watch out for, we will never see improvement. God knows how to build a city and watch over it, but we are ignoring the most important One for the success of our cities.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 130-133.