Psalm 127 - Chambers, Oswald
1. Direction by countenancing god
except the lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the lord keep the city, the watch- man waketh but in vain. (psalm 127:1)
for that ye ought to say, if the lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. (see James 4:1315)
Do i countenance god like that? Not have my face towards him, but my whole person directed by that dominating thought? One of the greatest evidences that we are born again of god is that we perceive the kingdom of god. When i am born from above (rv mg) i countenance god; the arm of the lord is revealed and i see god as the architect, as the one who is doing all things. God is never away off some- where else; he is always there. It is this fact that needs to be taken into consideration. Do i countenance the fact that god is engineering my bodily life and all that i come in contact with? I mention the body because that is the physical case in which our spirit works. If i do not countenance god in that, my faith is jargon. If i enthrone common sense as god, there are great regions of my life in which i do not countenance god. Except the lord build the house . . . , the house of the mind or heart. God is building us for himself not for ourselves. Do i realise that my body is the temple of the holy ghost, or am i educating myself for myself ? I have an ambition, just where that ambition rules i do not countenance god, i cannot, because my ambition rules and i wont allow god to thwart it. If i do not countenance god in every relationship of my life i shall end in disaster. We get the life of god all at once, but we do not learn to obey all at once; we only learn to obey by the discipline of life.
2. Distracted man
it is vain for you that ye rise up early, and so late take rest, and eat the bread of toil: for so he giveth unto his beloved sleep. (psalm 127:2 rv)
This verse describes an amateur providence. We are all amateur providences, until we learn better; we are most impertinent toward god, we tell him there are certain things we will never allow to happen in other lives, and god comes and says, don’t interfere with that life any more. Are you rising up early and sit- ting up late to try and unravel difficulties? You can- not do it. It is a great thing to get to the place where you countenance god and know he rules. It is not done by impulse but by a settled and abiding conviction based on gods truth and the discipline of life. I know that god rules; and he gives me power to per- ceive his rule. There is no use sitting up late or rising up early, i must do the work that lies before me, and avoid worry as i would the devil. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late. . . . If i take time from sleep, gods punishment rests on me; or if i take time in sleep when i should be working, he punishes me. Sloth is as bad as being a fussy workman in gods sight. We have no business to be distracted. I wonder if we have ever considered the bible impli- cations about sleep? It is not true to say that sleep is simply meant for physical recuperation; surely much less time than god has ordered would have served that purpose. The revised version suggests a deeper, profounder ministry for sleep than mere physical recuperation. For so he giveth unto his beloved in sleep (mg). The deepest concerns of our souls, whether they be good or bad, are furthered during sleep. It is not merely a physical fact that you go to bed perplexed and
Wake clear-minded; god has been ministering to you during sleep. Sometimes god cannot get at us until we are asleep. In the bible there are times when in the deep slumber of the body god has taken the souls of his ser- vants into deeper communion with himself (e. G. Gen- esis 2:21, 15:12). Often when a problem or perplexity harasses the mind and there seems no solution, after a nights rest you find the solution easy, and the problem has no further perplexity. Think of the security of the saint in sleeping or in waking, thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day. Sleep is gods celestial nurse who croons away our consciousness, and god deals with the unconscious life of the soul in places where only he and his angels have charge. As you retire to rest, give your soul and god a time together, and commit your life to god with a conscious peace for the hours of sleep, and deep and profound developments will go on in spirit, soul and body by the kind creating hand of our god.
3. Disregarded munificence
lo, children are an heritage of the lord : and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth. (psalm 127:34 rv )
Things go by threes in the bible: father, son and holy ghost; god, church, converts; husband, wife, children. It is gods order, not mans. Whenever one of the three is missing, there is something wrong. If you have a house, the next thing the bible counsels is hospitality given to hospitality (Romans 12:13); pursuing hospitality (rv mg); give your whole mind to it. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares (Hebrews 13:2). That is the way the blessing comes. When we begin to try to economise, god puts dry rot in us instantly. I dont care what line the economy takes, it produces dry rot. When we have the lavish hand, there is munificence at once. There is that scattereth, and increaseth yet more; and there is that with holdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth only to want (proverbs 11:24 rv). It is the third element being recognised. Have i got three factors in my thinking, or only two? Is it god and myself ? Then i am wrong. It is god and myself for gods purposes. Do i want to be saved that i may be right with god, or that god may get his purpose through me?
4. Delivering manoeuvres
happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, when they speak with their enemies in the gate. (psalm 127:5 rv)
it is the element of the third that makes a man wealthy. . . . Trained men, born in his house (genesis 14:14 rv).
Have i been able to reproduce my own kind spiritually? If so, in a time of difficulty i will be brought through magnificently victorious; but woe be to the spiritual man who has never produced his own kind, when the difficulties come there is none to assist, he is isolated and lonely. It is the production of the third that returns to you in victory. When we are right with god, jesus says, out of you will flow rivers of living water. Immediately you are in difficulties a thousand and one come to assist in prayer; they face the enemy in the gates. That is the great basal truth of the league of prayer, the clustering together of the children of god. It is those you have been the means of blessing who keep you from the onslaughts of the enemy. We shall be amazed to find how much we are indebted to people we never think about, simply because they were intro- duced to god through us, and in our difficulties they come to our aid. There is the wire of communication when the manoeuvres take place, and we are happily delivered. The kingdoms of this world are founded on strong men, consequently they go. Jesus christ founds his kingdom on the weakest link, a baby. God made his own son a babe. We must base our thinking on the rugged facts of life according to gods book, and not according to the finesse of modern civilisation. Let us not be so careful as to how we offend or please human ears, but let us never offend gods ears.