Reordering Your World

Psalm 127

Mother's Day - May 8, 2005

 

 A couple of decades ago, a friend passed along a book written by a New England pastor, Gordon MacDonald, with an interesting title, Reordering Your Private World. MacDonald expressed, in somewhat vague terms, of having gone through a personal crisis and upheaval in his life. More details of this came out several years later, but suffice it to say, though he was riding the tide of popularity as a preacher, speaker, and author, everything seemed to be unraveling in his life. Like a strand of thread pulled from a sweater that doesn't stop but continues to dissemble the garment, he saw the same happening in his life. So he had to stop, take a strong look at the details of life in Christ, and make changes. His book chronicles the changes in personal disciplines, worldview, and daily practices that enabled him to stitch together his life as a Christian, husband, father, and pastor. I recall it being helpful for me at that stage in my spiritual pilgrimage as well.

 

I'm borrowing part of his title for this message but making a significant change. I want to focus on reordering your world, public and private. That's where Psalm 127 takes us-on a journey of reordering the details and focus of our lives, especially our families, so that we find the deepest satisfaction in life through the Lord. This Psalm fits into the framework of fifteen Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134), a series of songs or ancient hymns that were used as pilgrims made the journey to Jerusalem for festival and holy days. They run the gamut of deeply inward struggles, feelings of loneliness and separation, and intense desire to be in God's presence with His people. Many are personalized, "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come?" (120) "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord'" (121). "To You I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens!" (123) "Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice!" (130) Even the personal nature of these Psalms spills over into desires, prayers, and longings for the covenant community as a whole. Here we find the blessings of the Lord upon His people (128), the remembrances of His deliverances (124), and the call for unity among the brethren (133). Psalm 127 stands in the middle of these Songs of Ascent, strategically reminding the pilgrims of how all of one's life must be reordered in dependence upon the Lord.

 

We need such reminders as well. We can speed along on the treadmill of life, going at break-neck speed, and finally ending up nowhere. This Psalm takes us somewhere as it refocuses our attention, thoughts, aims, and ambitions in life. It culminates with a family focus that stands in sharp contrast to the disarray we witness each day in the world. A daily life that focuses dependence on the Lord and His ways reorders our whole perspective on life. Many people somberly trudge through life, finding each step an effort and a drain. They know nothing of joy in the midst of life's pressures. They complain, constantly venting their frustrations and dissatisfaction with seemingly everything the eye sees or the mind imagines. But does life have to be this way? As Christians, we're called to reorder our world according to God's design.

 

I. Evaluate yourself

 

Before we can make progress in our lives we must do the hard work of personal evaluation. We've been considering this to a large degree in our Sunday evening studies in 2 Corinthians, where the Apostle Paul calls for the Corinthians to do the tough work of examining themselves in light of the gospel. Yet, many times we fear self-examination, loathing the idea that we might see areas of our lives that need to be changed and transformed by the application of the Word of God by the Holy Spirit. So we avoid it; we stop short of real progress by clamming up and freezing our investigative thoughts. But Psalm 127 will not let us do this! "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain." Notice the repetition of two key words, "unless" and "in vain." The first calls for a reality check; stopping, investigating, evaluating, and pondering the whole picture of our lives. The second demands that we take an accounting on where we are heading and what will be the result of our pursuits in life.

 

This passage brings each of us back to the whole purpose for our existence. We might build a giant skyscraper, but if it is not done by the Lord's strength and as unto Him, the Psalmist teaches us that it is "in vain." There is no satisfaction in this seemingly remarkable feat. Even though the accolades of men fall our way, we will still search for something else to satisfy the deepest longings of the soul. So many of those considered the great successes of the world, as we take a look at their lives, we discover misery and dissatisfaction in the midst of apparent success. Isn't it strange to see how drunkenness, drug addiction, broken families, shattered marriages, and misery follow the world's idea of success? Until we come front and center with the centrality of the Lord in every aspect of life, then whatever we do will be "in vain." "Your hands made me and fashioned me," explained the Psalmist concerning that foundational truth of life (Psa. 119:73). Augustine understood this when he prayed, "You have made us for Yourself; and we are restless until we find our rest in You." Life is vain apart from the Lord. That point rings throughout this Psalm in correcting the arrogance, self-centeredness, self-serving, and vain ways of men.

 

1. Signs of a right disposition

 

The greatest measurements in life are not found in our bank accounts or land holdings or trophies lining the wall or diplomas hanging above our desk. That is the way that the world tends to measure success in life. But we mustn't fall prey to that kind of thinking. Certainly, none of those things are bad; they might even been valuable in life. However, we must plunge deeper so that if we lost every dime to our name and every credential to our trade and every honor bestowed by men, we would still know the wonder of the most intense satisfaction with life. Jesus told us that life does not consist in the abundance of what a man has: "for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions" (Luke 12:15). Real life consists of knowing the Lord who made us and living for His glory alone. That's where the Psalmist takes us. It's not that he doesn't live in the real world where he faces work, family issues, financial demands, and relationship problems. That is precisely where we find him as he helps us to reorder our worlds. He focuses on developing a right disposition in life. By disposition, I mean the way that you frame all of life, the leanings and inclinations of your mind and attitudes and ambitions and pursuits.

 

"Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain." He begins with real life experiences that serve as examples for the whole of life. In this case, he brings up building a house and guarding a city wall - normal occupations of life. Each of us has to have a place to live and we have to have a sense of security in life. That's part of human existence. But how do we frame the normal activities of life? Life is about the Lord - that's what the Psalmist drives home to us. So we build and we keep watch, in other words, we work in the sphere entrusted to us. Working is part of our existence. God worked when He created the world so that on the last day in the creation story, "He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done" (Gen. 2:2). He dignified work so that if work is appropriate to the Creator it is appropriate for the creatures He created. Before the fall of man brought hardship by toil in work (Gen. 3:15-17), God gave Adam work to do. "Then the Lord God took the man and put him in to the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it" - working and watching (Gen. 2:15). He created us to work and to find satisfaction in the work that He has entrusted to our hands.

 

Have you noticed how so much of the emphasis in our day is geared toward avoiding work? Retirement is pursued as an end to work. Recreation is emphasized as an escape from work. Work is viewed as a necessary evil for providing enough capital to play and pursue our pleasures. But the Psalmist challenges our western point of view. We are to work but we are to do so with the conscious dependence upon the Lord. Our hands labor at building a house but greater hands work through us. "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it." Men might build lofty homes or make and pursue noble plans, yet unless the Lord enables by His grace, all is vain for it focuses on the glory and selfish ambition of men rather than the glory of God.

 

Consider how all of life, every detail, is to be lived in dependence upon the Lord. The aim of every part of life is to be to the Lord's glory. That checks our ambitions, motives, plans, and procedures. It offers tribute to the Lord that continues on as a lasting testimony of His grace. If all of the ambitions that we avidly pursue produce only temporal gain, then so what? Really, what good is there in such things? Does God receive glory in that which He has not blessed and enabled by grace? Our aim centers on self-gratification or self-esteem or self-desire apart from God's blessing. Man is ultimately at the center, pursuing things that satisfy his own desires as though there is no Creator and Judge. Whatever he has done will not last beyond the few years of his life. But that which is done by the Lord's strength stores up treasures for eternity. What God's hand blesses unites us to greater joys, thanksgivings, and satisfaction in Him.

 

2. Signs of an unhealthy desperation

 

Perhaps we can see this more clearly in verse 2. "It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep." The Psalmist pictures a person bent on achieving more and having more in life, so he drives himself to such a point that his sleep is affected, he no longer even enjoys his mealtimes. He is concerned about not having what others have and doing what they do, so he digs in his heels and drives his energies toward reaching his goals. Everything is a chore. Ultimately, he might have more things. He appears to have gotten ahead in life. But the process has left him miserable. He doesn't enjoy life because he doesn't enjoy God in the midst of life's demands. He complains and grows embittered about all that he has to do to pay his bills and maintain his lifestyle. He resents the pressure that he faces and those that he perceives add to his pressure, including his family. He might have more things but he has poorer relationships in the process. He is a self-made person, and he ends up with the kind of life that fallen man can make.

 

Lest you misunderstand, Solomon, the Psalmist in this case, is not advocating low aims or passivity or laziness. There's certainly none of the "let go and let God" philosophy in his reordering process. Instead, make plans, diligently pursue your dreams, but do all by prayer and dependence upon the Lord. Keep your hearts attune to Him. Be sensitive to the urgings and warnings of the Holy Spirit along the way. Look to the Lord for grace and strength in all that you undertake. Clarify your pursuits according to the teaching of God's Word. Trust Him to teach you and to work good things out of every detail, even in the times of failure. For He is the God who is able to cause all things to work together for the good of those that love Him and those called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). Give Him glory for any success and good that comes out of your pursuits. Humbly approach everything that you do with the attitude of using the gifts, abilities, and resources that the Lord has given you for His glory, knowing that your life, breath, and health is a moment-by-moment gift of God. As Charles Spurgeon put it, "Happy is the man who hits the golden mean by so working as to believe in God, and so believing in God as to work without fear" [The Treasure of David, vol. III, 84].

 

II. Entrust yourself to the Lord

 

The point of the Psalm is not to bemoan your failures but to reorder and make changes so that you have a God-centered focus in your life. Notice how clearly the Psalmist explains this need.

 

1. Life is about Him

 

Life is not about you or your dreams or your plans. Life is about the Lord. He created us for His own glory, so any attempt to make yourself the focal point of life is both foolish and personally destructive. "It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors," we are told. All that we do in pursuit of selfish ends keeps us heading in the wrong direction! "For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep." Some translations approach this differently in light of the sleeplessness apparent in the first clause: "for he gives to his beloved sleep" [ESV and other translations]. So, whether it is giving sleep because of living anxiously in life or whether it is giving necessities because of the driving demands of life, the point is the same: life is about Him.

 

Here we see the Lord's initiative as the One giving on our behalf. "Look at the birds of the air," Jesus declared, "that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?" (Matt. 6:26). "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you" (1 Pet. 5:6-7). We must rejoice in the Lord's initiative in working in our lives and providing for us. But there are parameters in such divine care. "He gives to His beloved," to those that know Him, to those pursued and transformed by the grace that is in Jesus Christ. God's promises are for His beloved people. His ways are to give "to His beloved even in his sleep." God is working even when we cannot. He is working and giving even apart from the fruit of our hands. We build houses and keep watch on the walls, but as we live in dependence upon Him, the Lord multiplies our labor and goes beyond in giving out of the richness of His resources.

 

Since life is about Him, then we are not to be passive in our dependence upon Him. Solomon explains the process in a well-known text. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" (Prov. 3:5-6). 

(1) Grow in the knowledge of the Lord. He is the Father; we are His children. He is the master; we are His servants. He is the Shepherd; we are the sheep of His pasture.

 

(2) Grow in your understanding of the ways and workings of the Lord. You can only do that if you will invest time in the reading, studying, and meditating upon God's Word. Follow the instruction of Christ that we find in Matthew 6, "Look at the birds of the air... your heavenly Father feeds them... observe how the lilies of the field grow" ...God clothes them.

 

(3) Learn to look to the Lord, to depend upon Him, to believe His promises to trust His grace and care. Cultivate this through the Word, worship, prayer, and meditation upon Him.

 

(4) Give thanks to Him regularly, acknowledging some of the many details of His care and provision for you in life; recognizing the blessings of His hand.


2. Life is from Him

 

Think of how this passage furthers our thinking on the majestic Colossians 1:16-17, "All things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." And upon Romans 11:36, "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." The Lord "builds the house," the Lord "guards the city," and the Lord "gives to His beloved even in his sleep." But how do we know that He is building, guarding, and giving as these passages describe? How do we know that life is about Him and from Him? I would identify at least three areas where we see this.

 

(1) Satisfaction - there abides the conscious sense of fulfillment and peace at whatever you are under taking. Satisfaction isn't numbness or passivity, but a true sense of enjoyment even in the midst of life's demands. So, whether with work, family, or areas of service, as the Lord is at work you find satisfaction and enjoyment.

 

(2) Strength - there is an increasing strength, energy, and resourcefulness available to you in the midst of the work you under take. It happens while you are working or serving or carrying out the responsibilities of life in dependence upon the Lord. You are able, quite often, to get more accomplished than you thought yourself capable of doing. There's a sense of blessing in the work, even refreshing in the midst of expending yourself. As Nehemiah found when he challenged the workers to depend upon the Lord as they rebuilt Jerusalem's walls, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."

 

(3) Sanctification - what you are doing aims toward your sanctification, your growth in holiness. The Lord uses your labor and life's demands to hone, refine, correct, and improve your graces in the Christian life. These things move you more toward Him.

 

III.  Aim your family for His glory

 

Now, the question you might be asking is this, 'What does this have to do with the family?' I would answer, everything! This is not a disjointed psalm, but rather one that flows from the central idea of dependence upon the Lord in the midst of life's demands, and particularly seeing this worked out in family relationships. It is a reminder that the Lord is at work in families. He loves and values the family.

 

1. God's special gift

 

The first statement reorders our entire thinking on the family. "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward." Other translations have, "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord" (ESV), "Lo, an inheritance of Jehovah [are] sons, a reward [is] the fruit of the womb" (Young's Literal Translation), and "Don't you see that children are GOD's best gift? The fruit of the womb his generous legacy?" (The Message). As God's gift, children are declared to be a heritage - that which is handed down or passed along from another - in this case, the Lord, and that which is to be valued as precious, belonging uniquely to you and your family. So, in this sense, children are a gift from the Lord, a treasure to enjoy and care for, a legacy to be passed on to the next generation, and an endowment from the Lord to invest in and utilize for His glory.

 

If children are God's gift to us, then how should we reorder our lives to treasure this gift? That is what the Psalmist brings to mind. The Lord builds, watches, gives, and now, gives uniquely special gifts of children. Derek Kidner reminds us, "And it is not untypical of God's gifts that first they are liabilities, or at least responsibilities, before they become obvious assets. The greater their promise, the more likely that these sons will be a handful before they are a quiverful" [TOTC: Psalms 73-150, 442]. John Calvin adds, "Unless men regard their children as the gift of God, they are careless and reluctant in providing for their support, just as on the other hand this knowledge contributes in a very eminent degree to encourage them in bringing up their offspring" [Calvin's Commentaries, vol. VI, 111]. Gifts must be valued, nurtured, and wisely used for God's glory.

 

2. Making the most of God's gift

 

So to help us see the usefulness of God's gift of children, the Psalmist utilizes a simple picture. "Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate." Arrows did not come ready-made in that era. A warrior took the slender shafts in the rough and began the tedious work of shaping, honing, sanding, and smoothing them so that the arrows might sail at their target. Parents do the same by first leading disciplined lives and then instilling lives of discipline in their children. Discipline, the right ordering of our lives in relationship to God and His Word, requires much time, focus, and patient work. The wildness of the human nature must be tamed by discipline that hones and shapes and refines.

 

The warrior also had to add fletches or feathers to his arrows to keep them on a straight and true course, otherwise, without the feathers the arrows would have no direction. In the same sense, parents must add ongoing instruction to the daily lives of their children to keep them on the right course. Every parent must be a teacher. Both dad and mom are involved in teaching doctrine, teaching about relationships, teaching about priorities in life, teaching about moral purity, and most of all, teaching the gospel. It is ongoing: "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up" (Deut. 6:7). Television and video games and boom boxes are not good instructors. As you set the example in the things you teach, you lay the groundwork for lives that will stay on course for the glory of God.

 

The warrior hones and shapes the slender shaft for his arrow, he adds feathers to keep it straight and true, but he must have a point to his arrow. Whether for hunting or for battle, the arrows must balanced with the right head. Parents must keep the God-glorifying purpose for all of life before their children. Children must have an aim, just as do adults. Is it to be popular, to be cool, to be noticed? Put the right tip on the arrow of a God-glorifying life. You cannot live it for your children, but you can model it by faithfulness and teach it throughout the course of their growing up years. You can correct and discipline them with a view to eternal issues and relationship to God through Christ.

 

The arrows do not remain forever in the quiver. They are in the warrior's hands and in his quiver to be put on the bowstring and into action. "How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate." As the arrows are prepared, parents must give aim to send the well-prepared shafts toward the target of God-glorifying lives. Ancients conducted negotiations at the city gate. Here a man might meet up with his opponent. But he would not be alone when he had his quiver of arrows with him. The children that he had nurtured and defended are now ready to defend him! In other words, the things that you have done for your children, they are now ready to take on as responsibilities in life as those who would live for the glory of God. The arrows are prepared for great usefulness. You've labored to hone and shape and make sure they are ready to be launched and impact their target. You send them forth in dependence upon the Lord so that they might bring up the next generation that would follow after the Lord.

 

Conclusion

 

Does your life need to be reordered so that you pursue everything with a dependence upon the Lord? Whether your work or your family or your place in the community, unless the Lord builds the house, you labor in vain.

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