“Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat — for he grants sleep to those he loves. Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him.” Psalms 127:1-3
Could the last sentence in this passage be connected to the first two? The psalmist did not write this, but it seems consistent: “Unless the Lord builds the home, the husband and wife labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the children, the parents work in vain.” Three coaches congratulated nearly thirty high school tennis players after our season at a recent banquet. As I looked out over the audience of parents I thought, “How can we possibly raise children in this crazy world without God in the lead?”
Our two oldest graduate from college this weekend, a son in Athens, Georgia and a daughter in Searcy, Arkansas. I am heading west today to be with Kinsey and Susan plans to fly to join me early Saturday morning after attending Taylor’s Friday night ceremony. We are so happy, but both parents and children admit that God is the Architect who deserves the credit. Within two months Taylor and Kinsey also plan to marry and begin the important task with their spouses of building a strong home. Various statistics say that nearly one half of all marriages in America end in divorce. We know the enemy uses a host of weapons to try to destroy what God joins together, but I recently heard another statistic: couples who attend church together and daily pray together have a divorce rate of less than one half of one per cent. “Unless the Lord builds the house…”
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess… Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:13-16