Reflections on Psalms 127

 Psalms 127(Contemporary English Version)

1. (A song by Solomon for worship.) Without the help of the LORD it is useless to build a home or to guard a city.
   
2. It is useless to get up early and stay up late in order to earn a living. God takes care of his own, even while they sleep.
   
3. Children are a blessing and a gift from the LORD.
   
4. Having a lot of children to take care of you in your old age is like a warrior with a lot of arrows.
   
5. The more you have, the better off you will be, because they will protect you when your enemies attack with arguments.

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This pilgrimage psalm is from Solomon and has much the same tone as Ecclesiastes. Using examples of building a house, civil defense, general labor, and building a family, Solomon makes the point that all endeavors apart from God are futile. In other words, "Much is nothing if God is not in it."

What are we to make of these claims? Surely houses are built every day without the Lord's involvement and are completed successfully and do not fall down. But why do we build houses? Certainly for shelter, but is that all that is involved? Is there anything man does that does not have his happiness as an ultimate aim? Solomon tells us, however, that all of these endeavors apart from God are futile efforts toward achieving happiness. Happiness and satisfaction in life are illusive apart from God.