11/29/2024
This morning I read Psalm 127 and contemplated God's provision for us and His hand in all we are, have, and do. This is a short Psalm that is comprised of five verses, but it speaks volumes about God's involvement in all aspects of our lives, and the goodness He brings to them. It also reveals the deception of Satan as he works through our pride in self to steal God’s glory. Pride led to Satan’s downfall, and our pride remains his ultimate deception as he attempts to separate us from God.
“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. 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.”
Psalms 127:1-5 ESV
One Sunday morning, a few years ago, I taught the same lesson regarding pride, and took that lesson from Daniel 4. In it, King Nebuchadnezzar was humbled by God and it wasn't until he overcame his pride that God gave him back his throne. I could very well have used today's Psalm to teach the very same lesson on human pride.
Our efforts are in vain without God's hand and provision. We can build houses and work hard, but nothing good will come of them without our acknowledgement of God's involvement. Nebuchadnezzar built glorious palaces and conquered much, but he thought these were his accomplishments... they were not. Daniel 1:1-2 tells us who was responsible for the victory and the riches that resulted from them.
“In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.”
Daniel 1:1-2 KJV
To believe we are responsible for our lot in life is foolishness. All we are, and have, comes from God... including our children; they are our reward. Pride is a vicious deceiver... it woos us into believing in ourselves above all else. I asked this question of my students during my lesson. "Do you think you had something to do with being born with exceptional intelligence, or that the mentally disabled among us were responsible for their infirmity?" Then, after much discussion, I answered the question for them in this way… “No, all we are and all we have comes from God and is used for His purpose. There is none among us more cherished in His eyes, or any life more precious than another.”
“How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his [God’s] hands.”
Job 34:19 KJV
Pride is our greatest enemy, it is what brought down Satan and it will just as assuredly bring us down as well.
“Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.”
Ezekiel 28:17 KJV
We must remember to thank God in all we are and have; thank Him for all things great and small. If we are destitute we should thank Him for our mere existence... for life alone is a blessing from Him. Our time on earth isn't to be spent in accumulating things, but in perfecting our faith in Him... all else is trivial and of little consequence. So today let’s look inward, and ask ourselves what in us, and what possessions we have are actually founded on our own actions, or acquired by our own doing. Then let’s thank Him for the good and the bad which will ultimately lead to good as His will is worked.
“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
Romans 11:36 ESV
Prayer:
Thank you Father for our lives, your provision, and the many blessings you have bestowed upon us. We thank you in our prayers, but as we pray them Father help us to truly understand that it was only by your hand that we have these things. Let our prayers and alms be sincere, and not simply an acknowledgement of our own doing. Father, let your Holy Spirit hover over us and guide us to a greater understanding of you. Stoke the fire within us so that it will burn hot for your presence and love. Hear our yearning as we moan for you day and night. Give our hearts rest, and our minds an understanding that only when you have made us to lie down in your green pastures are we truly able to find peace, comfort, and rest. Lord, restore our souls and lift up our faith to heights unimaginable… even in the hour of our suffering. You are our God and in you we trust, and in you alone resides our faith, and all we are comes by your hand, mercy, and grace. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who not only deserves our praise and thanks for the good, but our trust and expectation in the bad such that all will be worked together for good in us. Holy are you who gives us good gifts, with some being like a jigsaw puzzle that at first blush makes no sense, but when pieced together by our labor of love reveals your beauty, and allows us see the fullness of your glory. Help us Abba to see that there is no grace without the individual pieces of you in our lives, and that once assembled the glory we witness is yours, while only the struggle of the journey has been ours.
Then, in their humility all those who have, and all those who have not, lifted their gaze towards Heaven and cried out as one… Praised be to God who alone establishes all things! Amen!
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,”
Philippians 2:12 ESV
“For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Colossians 2:1-3 ESV
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV
Rich Forbes