GOD IS OUR PEACE!

Thursday, March 14, 2019

GOD IS OUR PEACE!

Ps 127:1-2

1 EXCEPT THE Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.  [Ps 121:1,3,5.]

2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil — for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep.

AMPLIFIED BIBLE

           Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall and it was not a popular idea with some of the locals. At first the enemies tried negotiation and subterfuge but finally they resorted to open hostility.

Adam Clarke says: “There seems to be here an allusion to the daily and nightly watches which Nehemiah instituted. The people are worn out with constant labour and watching; he therefore divided them in such a manner, that they who had worked in the day should rest by night, and that they who worked by night should rest in the day; and thus his beloved, a title of the Jews, the beloved of God, got sleep, due refreshment, and rest. As for Nehemiah and his servants, they never put off their clothes day or night but for washing.”

If Clarke is right, two things are immediately obvious. [1] A person cannot remain on watch, “engaged in anxious toil,” without a break. [2] Leaders usually do not get, or they usually do not take, a break. They watch and work with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other! Nehemiah slept with one eye open.

The theme of both these verses is trust. It was simply put. If God does not build the house, or the wall, they labor in vain who build it. It is hard to push our agenda if it is not God’s will.

Ps 62:8

8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

Dear Lord, many things crowd and cloud my mind. It robs me of rest. It lengthens my days and begins them too early. I plod through the day pushing my own agenda. There are many others like me. Give us the rest that comes from fully trusting in your provision and protection. AMEN