Psalm Meditation 566
Easter
April 24, 2011

Psalm 127
1 Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.
2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved.
3 Sons are indeed a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one's youth.
5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
(NRSV)

There seems to be no connection between the first two verses and the other three. As one who can make great leaps in a single sentence I am pretty sure that the psalmist knows how these verses go together. It may have made more sense to the original audience for whom or about whom this psalm was written. Since we don’t have the original audience and context we can make our own sense of the psalm.

The connection I see this time is the presence of God in each of these. God builds the house, God guards the city, God gives us work and rest and God gives us family. If God is not present in the family, it makes no difference how many offspring there are of any gender. When God is present, when we pay attention to the presence of God in our families, sons are a source of great joy and pride. While sons were and are the way we continue a family name, daughters are a blessing all their own.

The presence of God in our lives does make a difference. Families who do not acknowledge the presence of God may have more money and material goods than a family of faith. I would rather have a family based on loving relationships without a lot of the trappings of materialism than one based on having and getting stuff without a lot of loving concern for one another. I do appreciate a mixture of stuff and family love. Given the choice between the two I would choose the family.

April 18, 2011