IN THE LORD
Psalm 127: 1-5
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A PRESBYTERIAN PSALTER - by Pastor Max A Forsythe |
From ancient times down to the present in Kuwait (which means "little fort") mankind has built his walled cities, his castles and field fortifications to give him an advantage in battle. Imagine the surprise when a tourist once traveled to the legendary city of Sparta and saw not one stone piled on top of another. His guide was quick to explain that the Spartans needed no walls of stone and earth since her security rested upon the strength and reputation of her warriors and their mobile shield wall. The shield wall was made up of the individual metal shields of each warrior. In combat as long as the shield wall maintained its integrity the battle line could survive.
Men no longer carry shields into field combat, but they do stay very close to their tanks and armored personnel carriers. During Desert Storm some five years ago, the Infantry carrying Bradleys, which were less armored, hovered behind the M1 Tanks like so many ducklings behind mama Duck. The strategy, tactics and objectives of modern warfare differ very little from that of the ancients. And yet, even as the political and military lines of battle have been drawn in the sands of Arabia, there remains one eternal lesson that has to be relearned in every time and place.
It is a lesson that the greatest master of politics and war in the last century understood. And it is a lesson little heeded today. Over a hundred years ago Otto von Bismark observed on the eve of what history credits his greatest triumph. "Man proposes, God disposes." Four little words upon which the fate of nations, empires and world order depends. These words echo exactly the revelation of the eternal God of the universe which we read a few minutes ago in Psalm 127: "Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it."
The key word in these verses is "vain". We hear it three times in the first two verses. We see it applied to three situations. First, there is the builder who labors over his dwelling. Whether it be temple, pyramid, or towering sky scraper, there are and will be ruins of earlier civilizations to remind us that the mere works of man are not for eternity. Second, there is the defender of the keep, the castle or the city who keeps his watch by night. There is scarcely a fortified place in this world that has not fallen to a conqueror at some point in time. Third, we are reminded that even our daily plans for prosperity are also at risk. Our psalmist urges us to consider that even our present restlessness over our financial future is under the sovereign grace and mercy of the Lord God Almighty!
It is He whom Job observed gives and takes even as Job blessed the Holy Name of the Lord in the midst of his dire poverty and suffering. All three of these worldly concerns could cause us to lose much sleep. The rich and powerful of this world have generally not been sleeping much these last few months as their pet projects and investments begin to go awry. And yet, those who belong to the Lord should sleep secure in the knowledge that God is in control. He will bless the work of His own hands.
And just as sons and daughters are a blessing to accomplish the goals of the family, so are we and our children an implied possession of the Lord. Now that thought is not what we would normally read from our English. You see, the Hebrew construction here implies possession by the Lord Himself. It does not read as we normally understand that children are gifts to us. Both they and we, the children of our parents belong, to God. If we belong to our God, then it is our responsibility to point our physical and our spiritual children in the direction of doing God's work whatever task He calls them to!
Now notice that I multiplied the sense of children in that last phrase. I spoke of two kinds, physical and spiritual. Remember how slow Abraham was to consider that the countless children promised by the Lord did not need to be directly descended? Of course, since it suited God's providence, Abraham in time fathered Isaac who in his turn produced sons and grandsons down to the birth of our Lord Himself. How often in Israel did the people make the mistake of assuming that their children by natural birth were the only ones to whom the promise must be kept?
In the last few weeks the elders of this Church have been harassed through email by a spiritually illiterate net nut, as I would describe him. He hurled insult after insult at us for several weeks before we finally found out what he was worried about. We certainly went the second and third mile in trying to be civil with him and to encourage him into a more tolerant understanding of our individual calling to work and witness. Unfortunately, his mind was so narrowly focused on the necessary salvation of his own ethnic group that he could not conceive that the faith and faithful could exist apart from his extremely limited understanding and minimal experience of the life in faith.
How very often members of Christ's Church miss the opportunity to reach outsiders when their constant thought and prayer is for their own alone. Yes, it is good to instruct our children in the faith, but we need to share that instruction with the other families in the church, so that our little ones well understand that the faith is not just a family thing, but that the Church is for who will come from near or far. Just this week, I received a request for an email pen pal for a 13 year old boy in Europe. I know that we are limited, but perhaps within our extended outreach, someone will respond.
I am reminded of the experience of a Church further west. It was in a small town. They had a Sunday School. Every few years they would elect by turn several different ladies to be Sunday School Superintendent. One of the ladies would immediately go out into the community and bring in children from near and far so that they could hear about our Lord Jesus Christ. A year of this "nonsense" would be about all the other ladies could tolerate. Having a hundred and fifty barely civilized children around could be hard work and a bit unnerving! So in the off years, the ruffians would gradually learn that they were unwelcome and attendance would return to the thirty or so children of the Church!
Was this Church doing the work of their Father? I think not. Notice the last verse of our psalm this morning: "Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them." We have to remember that we are engaged in spiritual warfare for our Father in heaven! And we should be recruiting men and women and boys and girls to do the work and witness of His eternal Kingdom.
Eighteen years before Desert Storm, I heard one of the nurses in the delivery room comment that there must be a war in the offering because there were so many boys in that year when my first son was born. I wish that that had been an old nurses' tale! Yet providential the war that she saw came. Thankfully, that war was short and casualties extremely light. And yet, I need to share with you the fact of a severe birth dirth that really crimps our military manpower today. By our own hands, just as that little rural church chose not to recruit people for God's Kingdom, we in this country have reduced the number of young men by almost twenty-five per cent in the name of a mother's "choice". While it was not the only reason, it is one reason the Reserves were called up in such increasing numbers during the conflict in Arabia.
We have become so hardened in this country to the destruction of human life in the Abortuaries that we have too little concern for those who miss that appointment. I have recently read and heard people speak about the coming crisis for our younger generations who have no knowledge of the commandments, the word or the faith. Just as the increase in families is celebrated here in this psalm, so do the Angels in heaven celebrate the spiritual increase as missionaries take God's word to every person who would be under the Son of God. As we consider the last implications of this psalm, let us wonder outloud and pray most earnestly if it is not timely to speak with our potential enemies while they are yet young.
Not only will we be able to neutralize the threat of their violence in years to come, but if the Lord allows, we will build His kingdom with the outcasts, the unwanted and unloved of our day and time. This is what it means to be a Church, to be going after those most in need of Christ's love, care and concern: the children of our age who have yet to grow up and bitter. May the Lord give us wisdom to meet this pressing need of our day and our time. Amen.
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Resources Used: |
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Spurgeon, C.H. |
The Treasury of David. |
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Foundation for Reformation. New Geneva Study Bible . (1995) Thomas Nelson, Inc. New King James Version. (1982) | ||
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Psm 127b |
13 April 97 | |