Week 20 Psalm 127
Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is useless.
I don’t think Solomon is saying that a) the Lord actually builds houses or that b) home builders’ work is futile.
I think Solomon is talking about doing a project and either a) making the Lord part of the mix or b) disregarding the Lord. My choice of a) or b) will determine the project’s Degree of Usefulness.
He says: IF I do something BUT I give Zero Consideration to the Lord THEN what I do is useless.
Let’s say there’s Project X:
Project X – the Lord = a Useless Project
Project X + the Lord = a Useful Project.
(There’s likely a fairly big middle ground between 100% Uselessness and Total Usefulness. There’s likely many points along a continuum that measure a greater or lesser inclusion or exclusion of the Lord in the project.)
I thought back to the Tower of Babel. I’m guessing those builders solicited roughly zero input from the Lord. The result was a building that registered close to zero on the Degree of Usefulness Scale.
I remember the Lord’s story about two builders. One guy built a house on a sand foundation. The other built on rock. Initially both guys successfully got their houses built and they moved in. And both showed high initial Degrees of Usefulness. But eventually inclement weather would be the real test of the build.
Note: quote from Psalm 127:1 (NLT)