“Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.” (Ps 127:1-2)
It is good to work hard and achieve… but work without the LORD is wasted because it is a tree that never bears sustaining fruit. It is like trying to care for that one house plant that no matter how much you nurture it is always a little sickly. You can kill yourself trying to make something succeed that is destined for failure.
On the other hand, when we put God at the center of our service, then the fruit comes naturally because we’ve planted the tree in the right soil.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31)
(I might mention that though this principle is true in everything, the context of Psalm 127 is focused on raising our children, and when we think about how much effort we expend building our children up, it is particularly powerful to remember this principle so we don’t waste the effort.)
Matt 4:4 #Biblebites