Who is Building Your House? Peace and Security

I have been participating in the READ program this year with the Church of God, Cleveland TN. and it has truly amazed me how much of the bible; that I have read through on numerous occasions, has been made new to me as spend the time reading it every morning. You know one of the things I have gained most from it is a desire to read it more. Reflecting on what God’s Word is really saying to me and it never fails to be appropriate for the moment that I am living in whether it be a time of mountaintops or a walk through the valley. God’s word can bring a hope and a peace to the situation unlike anything else I can turn to.

In Psalm 127:1, King Solomon writes these words that each of us needs to hear and understand about our walk with God.

1 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. (ESV)

I have not always been saved or even a Christian so I can testify that I have tried others things to meet the desires of life. The results were never exactly what I desired and it often required I do more to achieve that same feeling. In God’s Word I have found something that satisfies the longing without the physical and emotional destruction that the worldly influences brought into my life. I have chosen to allow God to build the house and to guard the city through daily reading of His word and a desire to be obedient to the directing of the Holy Spirit; God will deliver me from death. Not a physical death for that awaits all of us; however there is coming a day that Jesus warned us of that we must be prepared to avoid.

4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Luke 12:4-5 (ESV)

One day we all will be judged and in that day our relationship to Jesus Christ is all that will matter. That may seem harsh to some; however, as King Saul learned God desires our obedience more than our sacrifice. He wants us to obey Him just as the foreman on a jobsite expects the masons and carpenters to do exactly what the blueprints say in order to build the house correctly. God has laid out a simple plan of salvation that begins by recognizing Him as Lord and living a life that brings glory to His name through a relationship with His Son Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit for service to God and His church. We can try to build ourselves up and work to do what we think is best only to find ourselves on the outside looking in wondering what went wrong. However, Solomon shares in Psalm 127:2,

 “It is vain that you rise early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” (ESV)

Peace and security are found in the Lord, we all desire it and search the world for ways to gain it when in reality it is not available in this world; while we live separated from God doing things with our own understanding. It requires we trust in Him in all things; when we fail to do this there is no obligation on His part to do anything more for us. He has made a way are we willing to die to ourselves and follow after Him. As Oswald Chambers wrote, “Maybe it’s time we cut the ropes at the dock and sail out into the depths of who God really is.”(Paraphrased) Let God’s word be the knife and see where the wind blows us. Have a truly blessed day as you walk in the light of God’s Word.