A Warning & A Blessing - Psalm 127

 Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. - Psalm 127:1

    The psalm begins with a certain warning. In plain English, the psalmist is warning us that if the Lord is not the foundation of our homes, the very foundation of our lives, we are wasting our time in its construction. It will not stand; it cannot stand - “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 7: 26-27.
    He then goes on to tell us that unless God is our protector, via our commitment to faith in Him, we’re wasting our time building the battlements. “I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” - Psalm 121:1-2.
    The course is clear. The direction, divine. Make God the foundation of our lives. Make God the protector of our lives. If God is the foundation and protector of our lives, we shall have nothing to fear. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” - Romans 8:31.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. - Psalm 127:3

    The psalmist goes on to speak of children being our heritage and reward from God. The word for heritage in Hebrew (Nachălâh) also means “inheritance.” God has been keeping our children as an inheritance for us until the blessed day we enjoy the privilege of giving birth to them. Think of an heirloom given to us by our earthly mother or father. Would we treat it with contempt? Spit on it? Or toss it into the trash? How can we . . . how dare we do as much with the child God is bequeathing to us? We must see children as what they are: a gift, a reward given to us by God. And we must treat them as such. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” - James 1:17.

    Psalm 127 is a wonderful example of how God approaches us. He comes to us as our awe-inspiring Lord, giving us fair warning of a life lived in the fruitless pursuit of blessings without Him. Then He turns and gives us the promise, the reward, the inheritance we receive when we turn our lives over to Him and to His will for us and accept the blessing of giving life to a child made in His image.
    We would do well to heed both the warnings and the rewards God offers us.