Useful Bible Studies > Songs of Ascent Commentary

Last part: Psalm 127

 

Psalm 127

The plans that people make

The poet has a lesson for us to learn from these events. The lesson is not only about God’s house, or David’s family. It is about every house, every family, and every scheme that people make. People make many plans for their own lives. And they work hard because they want those plans to be successful. But they ought to know that they cannot even control the events in their own lives. All their efforts will be in vain without God’s help (James 4:13-16).

The poet says that, but he makes an even stronger statement.

People do not only need God’s help as they work. It is God who must do the work. If God is the builder, then the construction will succeed. But if God is not the builder, then people work in vain. Perhaps they will build their house. But that house is not the house that God wants.

David had money, materials and workmen. So he could have built the house of God, called the temple. But it would not have been the house that God wanted. It would not have given honour to God. It would merely have been the product of human effort.

Next part: City guards

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© 2015, Keith Simons.