The Lord's Doing
“If God doesn’t build the house,
the builders only build shacks.
If God doesn’t guard the city,
the night watchman might as well nap.
It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late,
and work your worried fingers to the bone.
Don’t you know he enjoys
giving rest to those he loves?”
-Psalm 127:1-2, MSG
“…either it will be the Lord’s doing or it will be pointless; there is no third option.” – Derek Kidner
“Those whom the Lord loves are delivered from the fret and fume of life, and take a sweet repose upon the bosom of their Lord. He rests them; blesses them while resting; blesses more in resting than others in their moiling and toiling. God is sure to give the best thing to his beloved, and we here see he gives them sleep -that is, a laying aside of care, a forgetfulness of need, a quiet leaving of matters with God. This kind of sleep is better than riches and honor.”- Charles H. Spurgeon
“The text confronts us in our pretentions about our work being indispensable and bids us relax. We are to be vigilant against irreligiosa solicitude pro Deo, “a blasphemous anxiety to do God’s work for him.”
In the context of Western society, it is extraordinary to think of the family being able to function in the way presupposed here. It would be nice to think that the church could model an alternative way of being human and being family, such as the psalm points to.” – John Goldingay
“…permanence requires the work of God.” – Stephen J. Lennox
The work of the gospel in creating community God’s way, that is the work of seeing a church grow and flourish, is to be God’s work. Even so, as part of the church (or maybe especially as a leader in the church) it often feels like human work. It feels like if we can invest enough time and energy, talent and treasure, the church will grow. It’s a trap to think and live like that. Not because clever human strategy with enough investment can’t attract a crowd- Disney World is proof enough in that regard. It’s a trap because human effort will only get the church so far. God must do His work or there is no lasting life change. God must do His work or what we grow and build and invest in is simply the next “Tower of Babel” and not the Kingdom of Jesus. It is our dependence upon God that is to set the church apart, not slick marketing or a great website. We need a community, with God at its center. The church is to be the space where redemption and transformation happen because God is bringing them into lives. This is not a self-help support group, or at least it shouldn’t be. The tricky part (at least for me) is finding the space where our work, and our vigilance, and our sowing the seed, are fully balanced with prayerful dependence on God to do His work. His protecting, His growing the seed in other’s lives is the only thing that keeps our best efforts from being vain efforts. Let’s learn this dance. Let’s see what God does as we follow His lead into the future.
Questions for application/discussion:
There is a saying, “Work as if it depends on you, pray as if it depends on God.” Do you agree with this statement? How would you edit it? What would it look like to prayerfully depend on God?
What is one way that you need to change how you are praying for the church?
What is one area where you feel like you are doing well in balancing your effort and God’s work? How can that help you to find that same balance in other areas?
Blog bonus: Shouts of Joy