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. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He gives His beloved sleep (Psalm 127:1, 2). The author of this Psalm is Solomon, and there is a key word here that links the Psalm with Ecclesiastes, that Solomon also wrote. It's the thrice repeated word “vanity.”  This word  occurs 35 in Ecclesiastes,  and is linked to the phrase “under the sun” which occurs there 30 times.  The word translated “vanity” has the sense of being useless, ineffective, empty of meaning or significance.  Solomon had more riches, more fame, more wisdom than any man who ever lived.  But He had set his heart to seek pleasure, he  “had seven hundred wives,  and three hundred concubines” (1 Kings 11:3). Yet in the end to him it was all vanity!

The link with “under the sun” is important in understanding what he is saying.  He is saying everything is vain apart from the One who is above the sun, or in terms of this morning's verses “unless the Lord ....”  These considerations help us to understand what Jesus meant when He said “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Clearly we can build houses and set guards (electronic or otherwise) on our houses, cities etc.  But enduring meaning, true significance and fulfillment are found only in relationship to the Lord. Jesus tells us that Kingdom life (eternal life and life in its fullness) is all knowing the Father and the Son (John 17:3). It is interesting to note that many famous people having reached the top, or having reached their life's goal,  have found it empty and have turned to the Lord.

I am reminded of something a Jamaican preacher said years ago. Before he came to Canada he had been looking for a job, and had had an interview in a firm that exported bananas. They had asked him what his life goals were, and he had spoken of his call to preach the gospel. At the end of the inter view they thanked him for his honesty, but told him “We are looking for someone who will give his life to bananas!”  He said he could picture written on his tombstone when he died that “He gave his life to bananas!” The second of this mornings verses speaks to the hyper activity of our culture, to our looking for love in all the wrong places, to the urgent need to keep busy, to fill our lives with anything but God, to the sorrow and the anxiety that occupy our minds by day,  and rob us of sleep at night.  But it is the Lord who gives His beloved sleep and peace.

Forgive us Lord, forgive me,  for the many times our priorities have been wrong and we have essentially been giving our lives over to bananas. It's not that we don't need down time,  and there is no sin per say in entertainment, but there needs to be balance Lord. The harvest truly is plentiful Lord, but the labourers are few. Therefore send us out a labourers into Your  harvest (Matthew 9:37, 38). And Lord You tell us that peace comes as we bring everything to Your with all kinds of prayers with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6, 7). So for these and many other things we give You the glory in Your precious Name Amen