Time to Change the Builder

(by Dave, 5 min)

Scripture

Psalm 127

A song of ascents. Of Solomon.

Unless the Lord builds the house,
    the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
    the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
    and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
    for he grants sleep to those he loves.

Children are a heritage from the Lord,
    offspring a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
    are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
    whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
    when they contend with their opponents in court.

Poor construction

I live in Pennsylvania, a battleground state for the Presidential election and control of Congress. I can’t watch a college football game without being inundated with attack ads. It doesn’t matter your political persuasion. By the time the tidal wave of commercials rolls back out to sea and the football game returns, the viewer can draw but one conclusion. Everyone running for political office is evil.

I try to extract myself from it by muting the stupid TV and avoiding the news. Alas, the tide sweeps around these walls and floods my mailbox. Having discovered bills hiding in their midst, I must go through the paper-hate. I can’t help but wonder how many downed trees it took to produce this detritus and how many dollars could’ve been spent for better purposes.

This is the house we built. It is a home the Lord did not build. It was built by us for the pursuit of power. The result of this enterprise? A diet of anxious toil. How well do you think the campaign coordinators are sleeping these days? Do you envision their rest is plentiful and peaceful or is it fitful and anxious causing them to rise early and stay up late? I suspect the latter because the Lord did not build the house of pursuing power, people did.

The Psalm tells us how to know if the Lord built and watched over our construction projects. If He did not, the projects will be in vain. Wednesday, November 6 in the United States all the attack ads and accompanying anxiety will be irrelevant. The billions of dollars spent on them gone forever. The people who produced all of it, and we who were influenced by it, will go back to our lives now the worse for having experienced it. No matter the victors, a year from now it will start all over again. All the angst, all the efforts, all the dollars spent now will be irrelevant then as a new clamoring for power will begin before midterm elections. A perpetual cycle of vanity because power built and watched over this mess.

There is a better contractor

The second stanza of the Psalm seems strange juxtaposed to the first, but maybe not so much. The children we raise are our greatest building project. If the Lord builds those children, then they are a heritage and reward. Because the pursuit of power is our builder, we are not a blessing to each other. Instead, we are at each other’s throats.

Yet God’s assurance at the end of the Psalm pierces our acrimonious misery with great hope. Children of a house built by God in a city watched over by the Lord, can be a blessing to each other. They will be negotiators at the gate where resolution is found and strong warriors who will defend the Lord’s sovereignty over our houses. A sovereignty expressed in the gentleness of Christ who showed us how to build houses and children with God’s blueprint. Indeed, we need not live in houses God did not build. We do so by choice, and we can choose to leave it. But how?

I believe the best way to let the Lord build the house and children of our society is to let the Spirit have its way with us. Person by person, the Spirit will strip the bitterness and anxiety away.

The solution to our problem is not to persecute the makers of attack ads or demonize those with whom we disagree. The solution is to change the builder by evoking the Holy Spirit within, one person at a time. Then our houses and children will be built and watched over by God. We, the children the Lord builds, will become a peaceful presence in the world. A presence that does not rise to the challenge of irascible debate when we hear someone with whom we disagree. A presence that will guide us to love the speaker the way Christ loves us while never abandoning God’s truth.

Admittedly, we are a fallen people and will not allow the Lord to build and watch over all of our houses and children. But we can choose the Holy Spirit as our contractor within. We can exit a house God did not build. Our new contractor builds stable houses that cannot be washed away when a wave of hate crashes upon us. The children of those houses can be a blessing for everyone and that is the opposite of working in vain.

If you doubt this, then consider this editor’s summary of John Dickerson’s book Jesus Skeptic: A Journalist Explores The Credibility and Impact of Christianity:

“John S. Dickerson explores how Christianity spawned and perpetuated Western Civilization, including how followers of Jesus created the university and college systems, created literacy through public education, founded modern science, began the fight for women’s rights, ended open slavery and continue to drive racial reconciliation, fighting for justice and progress in a multitude of arenas.”

Our religious forefathers and mothers are children who were a heritage from the Lord to the world and we can join them. Let’s pick up their work and let the greatest contractor of all build our internal house. Then we will be children who can speak graciously at the gate and stand firmly for God.

I hope in this time of bitterness and division, Psalm 127 might give you hope for a better future. Its heading identifies it as a Song of Ascent. That means pilgrims likely sang it as they walked to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover and other religious festivals. It placed their focus where it should be, and hopefully it will do the same for us. Peace is found in the house and children the Spirit builds even if your candidate for political office loses.

Alright brothers and sisters, I hope that wasn’t too political for you. It’s about as close to politics as I’ve gone on this website. So, I very much hope these words did not offend, but instead gave you a sense of peace in a time of turmoil.

You all be well and thanks for reading.

Dave