Except the Lord Build the House

Psalm 127:1-5 KJV

[1] Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. 

The family as a divine institution is aggressively being attacked today. The worldly system with its core purpose of destroying the most basic unit of society is incessantly going against this institution; which affects every fragment of society, from our children to the religious institution. The supposedly godly institutions have now yielded to the demands and intimidation of the enemies.

As God’s people, we have to rise up, be bold, and be better equipped to fight this important battle. God, through His death and resurrection, has already secured our victory. We only need to claim this victory by faith. The fight has to start in our homes; one family at a time.

Our text in today’s devotion clearly implies that in order to keep the city, the house or the family must be built by God. We are doing this all reversed. While we aggressively attack the system, the enemies are attacking our families. And they seem to be gaining ground. We are fighting in the wrong places. Is it because we are in denial that there is something wrong in our homes? We should fight where the battle is most fierce. It is in our homes. 

It is time to claim the family as a godly institution back to God’s possession. Here are the reasons why:

1.It was God who started the family as a divine institution. He instituted the first marriage. He was the author of love and communication.

2.It was God who started a relationship. God created men, not as separated individuals; but as people related to each other. We are all connected biologically and spiritually.

3.It is God who sustains us through all His creations. The food we eat. The clothes we wear and the houses we live in. 

4.It was God who commanded His people to bless the family, beginning with Abraham and the Church.

5.God will restore what sin and the enemies have attempted to destroy. He is coming again!

The battle is in every place, but we need to begin where the births and the learning begin. Parents be aware! 

Decades ago, when families were together praying and going to Church, life was simple and not complicated. There was no open business on Sundays. The Bible was being taught in the school curriculum. Every class began with a prayer. The public places are filled with families enjoying and bonding together. Now everything has changed.

When men started to focus outside the needs of the home, family was forgotten. Children are often neglected. The goal was changed to individual independence and material gains. The saddest part is God and the Bible became out of place in the homes. To hear and learn about God, one has to go to another place, the Church. Forgetting that the church is an assembly of people who are saved, obedient, and committed to carrying the one gospel. It is not a place.

Unfortunately, most victims are the children. They started growing up without spiritual understanding due to the lack of godly mentors to guide them. The next generation was affected. The newer and future generations knew nothing about God and His will. Today, there is no fear of God in the heart of the youth, the future leaders. 

Conclusion:

God is the only solution to this problem. He must come back to our homes. It is true that God has the power to do what is right and necessary, but He has blessed us with all the faculties to exercise our freedom to think and choose what is right. He did not create us as robots but as personalities with cognitive, emotive, and decisive abilities to think and function. He only wants us to exercise the faith that will allow us to think and do right.

Our passage says, “Except the Lord builds” our homes, everything is vain. For God to build, it includes His perfect plan and His eternal purpose. As humans without God, are incapable of pursuing them. We have to give ourselves to Him, beginning with having a personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus. 

It does not end there, this relationship must yield righteousness and obedience to His will. Our desire for a relationship must not be confined only to ourselves. We must share God’s grace; the gospel, especially to our children and relatives in the home. 

It must not also end in the home. We need to take and spread the gospel abroad to other institutions such as the schools, places of work, and other places where we daily go. 

This is how it should be. When the homes are blessed with the presence of God, the city and the community will be blessed as well!