Psalm 127:1-5 NKJV
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
127 Unless the Lord builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the Lord guards the city,
The watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early,
To sit up late,
To eat the bread of sorrows;
For so He gives His beloved sleep.
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;
They shall not be ashamed,
But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
It is God’s will that we labor in this life. After creating Adam, “the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (Gen 2:15). Because of Adam’s sin, the Lord told Him, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground” (Gen 3:19). The Lord commands us to work for our daily bread.
God gives us work to do but He does not give us the responsibility of worrying about the outcome of our work. The outcome is up to Him and His blessing. This is the point of this psalm of Solomon. Fruitful work and fruitful families are not in our power, but God’s. If the Lord does not bless the work of building a house—not just the construction of the building, but the establishing of a Christian marriage which produces Godly children—all our toil to build our house is in vain. If the Lord does not protect the city from its enemies, the watchman stays awake in vain. Rising early and staying up late to worry and fret over the outcome of one’s work is to eat one’s bread in sorrow. Solomon reminds us that we cannot determine the outcome of our work, no matter how much effort and energy we put into it. The outcome belongs to the Lord.
This does not mean that we give up our work or slack off. God gives us the work but not the worry. We labor diligently in the offices to which God has called us and ask the Lord to bless our work, to give us our daily bread, and give us a good outcome. If God gives the good outcome for which we hope, we glorify God and praise Him as the one who has blessed our work and families. If God does not give us the outcome we hope for, we aren’t to go to pieces and fall apart, but say with St. Paul, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to Hispurpose” (Rom 8:28). We trust that the Lord who has set us in our vocations and commanded us to work will bless the work of our hands according to His wisdom.
Let us pray: Bless the work of our hands, O Lord, and so that we may receive our daily bread with joy and contentment, increase our faith in Your goodness and wisdom. Amen.