Are You Building Every Part of Your Life on God?

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Is God an active part of your decision-making process?

Psalm 127 is a wisdom psalm and the eighth of fifteen “Song of the Ascents.” It was “one of the songs which pilgrims sang as they made their way to Jerusalem to celebrate a number of annual religious festivals, including Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.”^[1]

The real beauty of this psalm is that it emphasizes the futility of human efforts without God's blessing and involvement. It “covers three areas of human activity and potential anxiety—the house, the city (1) and the family (3-5)—and affirms that without the Lord we can do nothing.”^[2] While short, its five verses pack a powerful punch as the psalmist writes,  

¹ Unless the Lord builds a house,
its builders labor over it in vain;
unless the Lord watches over a city,
the watchman stays alert in vain.
² In vain you get up early and stay up late,
working hard to have enough food—
yes, he gives sleep to the one he loves.

³ Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord,
offspring, a reward.
⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the sons born in one’s youth.
⁵ Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them.
They will never be put to shame
when they speak with their enemies at the city gate.

The house referenced in verse 1 “most likely refers to the Jerusalem temple, just as the word city in the third colon most likely refers to the city of Jerusalem.”³ As Willem VanGemeren writes, “The futility of life and the blessing of God are two contrastive themes in this wisdom psalm. On the one hand the psalmist shows the anxiety of life without God (vv. 1–2). On the other hand he encourages the godly to trust in the Lord in all matters of life.”^[3]