Today I want to speak to you about building your house on the Lord’s foundation. Building a spiritual house. When I first read Psalm 127, I thought it was talking about building a physical house. I read it again and again and nothing came to me. Then, all of a sudden God revealed that the scripture is talking about a spiritual house. The only way I know how to handle this text is to take it apart verse by verse in other words (exegesis). The first verse. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain. Unless means (if not), in other words if your house is not built upon the Lord’s principles; then your labor is in vain. The Hebrew word for vain is (naw-bah) which means foolish, hollow. I thought about a song we used to sing in Vacation Bible School, a long time ago. The song told a story about two men, that were building houses. One built his house on the sand; and the other built his house on the rock. Then the rain came. The foolish man’s house was washed away, but the wise man’s house stood firm. So, when you are building your spiritual house; build on biblical foundations and principles and when the rain comes, your house will stand. Unless the Lord builds the house; the psalmist isn’t speaking about building a shelter. He’s talking about establishing a family,
Verse 2 Describes two types of fathers. The first father works very long hours and doesn’t get any rest, because he is too busy worrying about tomorrow. The second father is happy with what he has and can sleep at night because he is happy with what he has and he sleeps well at night. Perhaps he brings his money home, and helps provide for his family. He knows the Lord will provide the rest. Most parents have to make a choice. They have to provide what their children need, and not always what they want.
Verse 3 Describes the value of children. Children are a gift from God. Proverbs 22:6 says train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. So as long as you do what you are required to do everything will be alright. Children learn by example. Instead of you saying do as I say. You should be examples for your children, or any children to follow. Children should be and are designed to be a blessing.
Verse 4 speaks about children and compares them to a warrior. Check out the analogy. When does a warrior influence his arrow the most? Is it after he’s shot and killed? No! When he holds it in is hands and in thinking about taking his first shot. The time to mold children is when they are young. Teach them right from wrong. The best time to start teaching your children godly values is while they are still young. The best way to teach is by example. Teach your children the Bible with your lips and back it up with your life style. Psalm 127 verses 4 & 5 teaches us a very important principle about the home. Children are a blessing from God. Children are not mistakes. Some young mothers are quick to say, I didn’t mean to get pregnant or I made a mistake. Well maybe you did. But, if God allowed you to get pregnant that wasn’t a mistake. God doesn’t make mistakes.
We as parents sometimes make a grave mistake when it comes to our children. We sometimes idolize them, or on the other end of the spectrum we despise them.
How many times have you been to the grocery store, or mall or been sitting in church and somebody’s child or children are misbehaving? You sit there and mumble to yourself. Saying things such as that couldn’t be my child. Instead of going over and trying to help calm the child, you are full of criticism. Some of us tend to let our children run wild, and when they work on our nerves, we want to "go off"!. That’s not how it should be. We need to discipline our children with love everytime they do wrong.
Remember that your children are not yours. They are gifts from God. They are only loaned to you. So when they are too grown and don’t want to listen anymore, give them back to God.
No one person has the plans for building a spiritual house. Only God has our house plans and we need to trust him. As I conclude I want to encourage somebody to entrust their life to God. We have to work together and listen to one another because if we are faithful in our walk with God then God will help us build our house.
Is your house build upon God’s foundation?
