Life Talk

Unless the Lord, it's Useless. 

Scripture: Psalm 127

Devotional:
Psalm 127 is a "Song of Ascents," attributed to Solomon, and it's built around one repeated idea: unless the Lord does it, human effort is useless. Verses 1-2 talks of building a house and guarding a city which are big, visible projects that collapse without God's hand in them. Verses 3-5 pivot to the same truth applied to the most personal project a person undertakes: family. The psalm essentially says building a career, a home, a legacy is all vanity apart from God. Then it moves the thought to raising children. You can labor and strategize, but children are ultimately a gift, not an achievement.

Let's look at some tension in this Psalm...

"Children are a heritage (nachalah) from the LORD"
Nachalah is inheritance language, the same word used for the Promised Land itself (Deut. 4:21). It's not something you earn or manufacture; it's allotted to you freely. This immediately removes children away from being a possession or an accomplishment but rather a gift. One in which we are to steward.

Now the tension...

"The fruit of the womb a reward (sakar)"
Sakar is wages, payment for labor. This positions the child as one which requires labor that comes with payment. We know that birthing labor is only the beginning of the work required raising children.

It's a striking pairing with much differences: inheritance (unearned) and reward (earned) sitting side by side. The tension is the point, children feel like both grace and labor, both given and worked for. 

To settle this contrast is simple. Children are a gift that requires our careful stewarding while in our homes. Much like the Parable of the Talents, all gifts from God requires our intentional stewardship to maximize increase. So this week's devotional will be a blueprint for intentional stewardship of raising our children.

So keep in mind for the reminder of this week.... Unless the Lord, it's Useless.

That includes His design for raising children.

Reflection: Does the labor often cloud your memory that your children are a gift? How often do you invite God into your parenting or do you rely solely on your ability?