Day 34 - Psalm 127: God's Work

Day 34 Saturday

Read Psalm 127

“The first great fact which emerges from our civilization is that today everything has become “means.” There is no longer an “end”; we do not know whither we are going. We have forgotten our collective ends, and we possess great means; we set huge machines in motion in order to arrive nowhere.” Jacques Ellul

The essence of Psalm 127 is not that we have no work to do or that we are not invited to be a part of what God is doing in the world. The essence of Psalm 127 is that if God is not leading the work we do or guiding our participation then there is no purpose in doing it. The Psalm lists three everyday activities – building a house, guarding the city, and working for food – and says that unless God is involved, those activities are futile. The Apostle Paul makes a similar claim in 1 Corinthians 3. Writing to the church in Corinth Paul reminds them of their beginnings, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God gives the growth.” Paul isn’t saying that he and Apollos didn’t have anything to do with the church in Corinth, but he is saying that ultimately it was God’s work and not theirs.

The quote above from Jacques Ellul reminds us that it is easy to forget our purpose. We live in a world that is ever increasing its busy-ness – we have more things to do, our kids have more things to do, we can be entertained twenty-four hours a day. But for all that busy-ness, there is often little purpose. I envision a hamster on a wheel working with all its might and going nowhere. It is one thing to feel like a hamster on a wheel when you’re jogging on a treadmill on a cold, wet January morning. It is a whole other thing to feel like a hamster on a wheel when it comes to living life.

“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.”

Prayer

Spend some time asking God to show you what it means to rely upon Him in your work – whether that be professional work, home-life, ministries at church, or volunteering.