Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Trusting God”
Our Bible verse for today: “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “If you are in the will of God, then you will be ok.”
A couple of days ago I wrote the daily devotional about the lessons taught in Psalm 126. As I was doing that, my eyes drifted ahead to Psalm 127. Immediately I knew there was an important lesson in this Psalm too about trusting God, and that I wanted to be sure to circle back and address it before the month ends.
Those of you who know me well know that one of my life verses is Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight.”
That promise clears up a lot of confusion for me and gives me the confidence I need to boldly move forward in life, even when the path forward isn’t clear. The key is to genuinely want and to seek the will of God, and then trust Him to lead and guide you. If your heart is right, and if you truly do just want to understand His will and be obedient to it, He will guide you.
Psalm 127 addresses this same truth, only with slightly different words. In fact, it is a truth which God states and then restates in many places in the Bible.
Verse 1: “Unless the Lord builds the house; its builders labor in vain.” In other words, if the Lord is directing this activity it will prosper, if He isn’t, it will fail. So here again the key is to seek the will of God and then be obedient to it.
Verse 1: “Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.” You see, it doesn’t matter how big and bad you are, how strong and well armed; if God isn’t protecting you then you are weak and vulnerable. However if God is protecting you, then it doesn’t matter who or what comes against you.
Verse 2: “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat – for he grants sleep to those he loves.” What a common story! People kill themselves trying to earn a living, working ridiculous hours under tremendous stress, only to discover they’re unhappy and unfulfilled. That happens because they are out of synch with God. But when we are right in the middle of God’s will, our lives will be balanced and healthy, our needs will be met, and we will sleep well.
The key to all of this is that when we truly and genuinely seek to know and obey the will of God, He will take care of us. We can trust Him for it.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 