This is your daily reminder. God has not run
out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome
to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome to today.
It's February 21st, Saturday, and we are reading
today in Psalms, Psalm 127 specifically. If you
know much about the Psalms or if you don't know
much about the Psalms, here's a little bit to
kind of help you get an understanding of it.
There's 150 chapters in the book of Psalms. If
you look, those are grouped a couple of ways.
There's a few different what they consider books
in the psalm. And so you can read like a couple
of psalms together or one book. And there's some
that are grouped together in a couple of different
ways. Psalm 127 is one of those that fits in
a grouping. The grouping is 15 psalms. So there's
15 psalms. And in the dead center of that, Psalm
number 8 in that 15 is Psalm 127. These group
of 15 Psalms are called the Psalms of Ascent.
or the Psalms of degrees. And depending on what
you know and understand about the Psalms, it's
poetry writing, right? You don't go to the Psalms
to find instruction on order in the church. You
don't go to the Psalms to find historical accounts
of the kings. You don't go to the Psalms to find
the historical life and actions and ministry
of Jesus, right? Those are in different areas
in the Bible. The Psalms, however, give us a
worshipful response or communication to God,
to others, and in our own hearts. The psalmist,
there's multiple psalmists, people that wrote
the Psalms. There's David, there's Solomon, several
more. I don't want to jump into all that to give
you a background. If you want to know more about
specifically the Psalms, you can go way back
into the old New Mercies archives and listen
as I did a few series through Psalms. I did one
on the Psalms of Ascension. which we're going
to look again at this one in here today. Psalm
127 is the middle of that grouping. That grouping
is used in several places. So that grouping of
psalms, there's 15. Imagine building a playlist
that is trying to get you into worship or get
you into a congregational connection to the Lord.
We may build these psalms of ascent in that.
So you start out with this one, then you go to
this one, then you go to this one. Imagine walking
up stairs. There's a little bit of historical
context in that. Each stair closer to the place
and the presence of God was another psalm of
ascent you would quote or you would proclaim.
Today, we're going to look at 127, which is in
the middle. So imagine building a playlist and
you're getting closer and closer to the connection
to God and Psalm 127. You're halfway there, and
here's what it says at the halfway point, or
the center point of all of those psalms. I encourage
you, listen, today I know the reading plan suggests
read Psalm 127. You can read multiple of the
psalms around it, kind of see where it fits in.
It's a pretty neat way that it's in the center
of all of these psalms of ascent that go up.
Psalm 127, I want to read just a couple verses.
It's just five verses today. I'm going to read
the first two and then see if I'm going to pick
up the others or not, depending on the time we
have together. So here's what it says in Psalm
127, beginning at verse 1. Unless the Lord builds
the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman
stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise
up early and go late to rest, eating the bread
of anxious toil. for he gives to his beloved
sleep. You know, these first two verses give
us a picture of what this psalm is heading into.
This week we've read Haggai 1, we've read in
Luke, we've read in Deuteronomy, we've read in
different places in Scripture, Jesus' teaching
and Old Testament teaching about... priorities,
misplaced priorities, about misplaced funds and
investing in our own desires and selves other
than the things of God and eternal things. This
psalm helps kind of cap this up as a worship
moment at the end of the week here. He says,
listen, if the Lord is building the house, it's
awesome. If he's not building the house, it doesn't
matter who your contractor is. It's not going
to be good. It's going to be done in vain. God
is not our subcontractor. He's the one that builds
the house. If we build it, it will crumble and
fall. Why? Because we have weaknesses. We don't
know everything. We don't see everything. We're
not understanding to everything that's going
on. God doesn't miss anything. Wouldn't you want
for the person to build your house to be the
one that never misses anything? Absolutely. He
doesn't cut any corners. He does everything with
incredible accuracy, pinpoint accuracy. He doesn't
miss. That's who we want building our house.
What is our house? Our house is our legacy, our
testimony, our call in life. Whenever this psalm
is read or seen, it's one of the psalms of Solomon,
who was one of the wisest men on earth. And Solomon
says, listen, unless the Lord builds it, it doesn't
matter how great of teams you have, how much
understanding you have, how much power and influence
you have. If God doesn't build it, it's not worth
it. And as I read through the rest of this verse,
it says if he's not the watchman over the city.
You know, in the Old Testament times, there would
be people that would watch over the city. They
were on the city walls or right outside the city
outskirts, and they would look and watch for
the enemy. And if an enemy were to attack, the
watchman would sound an alarm. And the reason
they would do that is they would sound the alarm
so that the city could prepare for the enemy
or any type of attack. That's what the watchmen
were there for. And God is telling us in the
Scripture, if God's not the one watching over
you, the watchmen are laying awake in vain. They're
staying up all night in case the enemy comes
and attacks, and they're going to miss things.
God doesn't miss. He never misses for his people.
He's always on. He's going to make sure. He knows
the plans of the enemy. A watchman just sees
what's about to happen. God knows how it's about
to happen, who's involved, what the plans were.
He knows what the enemy was saying in the enemy's
bedroom, right? Before the enemy even came to
the table to discuss with all the other allies
that it may have. God knows all of it. He knows
all of it. He's like, why in the world would
you trust a watchman over the Lord? Why would
you trust a builder over the Lord? Why would
you trust anybody outside of just the Lord himself?
Trust him wholeheartedly. He's the one that builds
the house. He's the one that watches over the
city. He not only builds our testimony in our
house, he also protects our testimony in our
house. That's what he does. Then that second
verse there, it talks about why are we anxiously,
we're working and working and working, and we're
eating the bread of anxious toil, meaning we're
stressed out about even providing for ourselves.
We're stressed out about do we have enough of
this? Do we have enough of this in order to take
care of our own needs? And it says that God would
give rest to those that he cares for. You know
what that rest means? It doesn't mean laziness.
It doesn't mean he says, you know what, take
the week off. I'm just going to feed you, spoon
feed you everything you need. Instead, he says,
I want you to have peace. I want you to have
a joy, and I don't want you to be stressed out.
I want you to rely on me, know that I can build
your house, I can protect your house, and I can
provide for your house. I can do all of those
things. That's what God is trying to teach us
in the psalm. As I looked, it means no matter
how hard you work, no matter how much you put
into it. Here's what I think is crazy valuable.
I'm going to read the last couple of verses anyway.
I wasn't going to, but... You convinced me today.
Keep listening. Here we go. It says this in verses
3, 4, and 5. Behold, children are a heritage
from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward,
like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the
children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who
fills his quiver with them. He shall not be put
to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the
gate. This is a beautiful passage for parents.
Children are a heritage. It doesn't say children
are a burden. It doesn't say children are a frustration.
It doesn't say children are a stressor. It says
they're a heritage from the Lord. When I read
through the Scripture, I see it says the fruit
of the womb, a reward. They are a blessing to
us, a heritage, meaning they carry on a legacy.
They carry on something way more valuable. than
a house, something way more valuable than a city,
something way more valuable than sustainable
food. They carry on a heritage, a testimony that
keeps going, a legacy that keeps going. Is your
family producing that? Because here's what it
says next. They're like arrows in the hand of
a warrior. You know, an arrow is useless if it's
sitting here on this table. If an arrow is just
sitting here and no enemy is afraid of an arrow.
I want you to imagine this with me because I
think about this and it fires me up as a dad.
An enemy is not afraid of an arrow. An enemy
is afraid of an arrow in the hand of a warrior.
That's what the enemy is afraid of. An arrow
by itself does nothing. But if you put it in
a bow and you pull it back and you aim it at
the right place and you let it go and that arrow
comes shooting out, it is dangerous. An arrow
is not dangerous unless it's in the hand of a
warrior. Can I tell you, your kids can be dangerous
to the enemy. Only if you, as a warrior, say,
I'm going to help shape them. I'm going to help
make sure they are on the straight path. I'm
going to make sure they are straight and narrow.
I'm going to make sure they are in the bow the
right way. And I'm going to pull them back as
hard as I can pull them back. And I'm going to
make sure and take the time to aim correctly.
That's what I'm going to do. Now, if you do that,
the enemy says, uh -oh, I'm going to get hit.
I'm going to get hit. That's what we as parents
are called to do. If the Lord builds the house,
we're in good hands. And as I read through it,
as I hope you picked up on it a little bit too,
it says, Eating the bread of anxious toil. You're
nervous. You're scared. And so you think, I just
got to work harder. I just got to earn more.
I'm going to build a little extra on the house.
I'm going to gain a little extra influence. Here's
what I learned. If God's not in it, no amount
of work will make it matter. If God is not in
it, no amount of work will make it matter. I
want you to think about that today in your parenting.
in your school, in your social life, in your
work life, in your church life. If God's not
in it, no amount of work will make it matter.
I have a tendency to think I'll just outwork
everybody around me and I'll make it more meaningful.
I'll make it matter more. I'll record more episodes.
I'll go in and do this more. I'll do this more.
If God's not in it, it's not going to matter.
No amount of effort I put in can make it matter
anymore. Today, here's what I need you to hear.
Here's what I want you to hear as I've read through
this text, as I've looked at it, as I've seen
it over and over and over again. Busy does not
equal blessed. If God's not in it, no amount
of work will make it matter. I'm asking you today,
look into your life, look at every aspect of
your life. Is the Lord the one building your
house or are you trying to build it? Is the Lord
watching over your family, or are you trying
to watch over your family? Is the Lord giving
you provisions, or are you going out trying to
anxiously toil for it? Are the children that
he's entrusted to you, are you instilling in
them the ways of the Lord? Are you pulling them
back to fire them out so that they can be dangerous
to the enemy? Or are you just trying to make
sure they're okay? Make sure they're happy. I
don't want to make sure my kids are happy. I
want to make sure my kids are dangerous. I want
to make sure that the enemy doesn't want my kids
coming after them. That's what I want. I want
to make sure that I'm doing everything for the
Lord. And here's the only way that happens. The
only way that happens is if I trust it to the
Lord and not myself. If God's not in it, no amount
of work can make it matter. I'm asking you this
today. Put God in it all.