Unless The Lord Builds The House

Psalm 127

A song for the ascent to Jerusalem. A psalm of Solomon.

1Unless the LORD builds a house,

the work of the builders is useless.

Unless the LORD protects a city,

guarding it with sentries will do no good.

2It is useless for you to work so hard

from early morning until late at night,

anxiously working for food to eat;

for God gives rest to his loved ones.

3Children are a gift from the LORD;

they are a reward from him.

4Children born to a young man

are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hands.

5How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them!

He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.

Benjamin Franklin is best known for his inventions (the lightning rod) and his aphorisms (“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise”). But he was also a key figure when the thirteen colonies were giving birth to a new nation.

At the age of eighty-one, Franklin was the oldest representative at the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Weeks after the convention began, representatives were still haggling about the relative voting power of large states and small states. Then Franklin stood up and said,

“In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. . . . Have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proof I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. . . . We have been assured, sir, that ‘except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it,’ and without his concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.”

The verse from Psalm 127 had its effect. A compromise was soon worked out, and a Constitution was ratified by the states the following year.

O happy home, where Thou art not forgotten,

When joy is overflowing full and free;

O happy home, where every wounded spirit

Is brought, Physician, Comforter, to Thee.

CARL J. SPITTA

Bible Networking

Building without God is foolish, as seen in the stories of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) and the house built on sand (Matthew 7:24-27).

Notable Quotable

“Down they come, one after another; down they come, and every time for lack of righteousness. . . . When a nation no longer possesses a real effective belief in things spiritual, strong enough to inspire and to direct action, it decays.”

MATTHEW ARNOLD