Photo Credit: Cindy Tang
Be careful what you build. You labor night and day, yet you labor in vain. The storms will come, and the winds will blow and your labor will come to naught because the builder was you and not the Lord.
Be careful how you build. You grapple, and quarrel and envy and fight to gather and store up for yourself. You labor and toil but when it is tested, it all goes up in flames because the builder was you and not the Lord.
Be careful how you live. You rise early, and stay up late; toiling for what to eat. You worry and you fret, yet, it all comes to nothing. For if the builder is the Lord, you will sleep in perfect peace but if the builder is you, you will toil and labor in vain.
I’m meditating on Psalm 127 and it seems to me that the scripture in verses 1&2 are saying one and the same thing. God should be the center of your life not you. Do not get drowned by the spirit of this age who tells you that you are the center of everything and that you can and should be in control of your life.
Of course, you certainly could but unless the Lord BUILDS, … the builders labor in vain. Therefore, what use is all your labor, placing stone upon stone? In vain will you toil if the Lord is not the builder.
What use is all your hustling and neck breaking chase after ‘success’ if in the end it all goes up in flames when it is tested by fire? For it shall be tested by fire. Do not get sucked into the rat race. Those who trust in the Lord shall rest peaceably and see easy. They are not hustlers.
Meditate on these scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Then be willing to listen, trust and obey.
Psalm 127:1a, 2
Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain… In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for He grants sleep to those he loves.
In verse 2 above ‘in vain you rise early and stay up late…’ is interpreted a “for while they sleep, He provides for them” Think about that a moment! He provides for those He loves while they are asleep! Hallelujah!!
The Lord provides in the place of rest! He supplies in the place of contentment. He provides, you only need trust; trust in the Lord. That is what it means for God to give sleep to those He loves. Is that profound? Why then do you hustle, and bicker and quarrel, and grasp at every shiny, glittering thing the world dangles before your eyes. Rest. Trust. Sleep. He will provide.
Be careful how you live.
Matthew 6:25-30
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Selah.
Be careful ‘what’ you build.
Matthew 7:24-27
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Selah.
Be careful ‘how’ you build.
1 Corinthians 3:13
NIV
Their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.
The Message Bible
Or, to put it another way, you are God’s house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.
Selah.
1 Corinthians 3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
Comments