(Psa 127 NKJV) Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain. {2} It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows; For so He gives His beloved sleep. {3} Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. {4} Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. {5} Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.
(Psa 128 NKJV) Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, Who walks in His ways. {2} When you eat the labor of your hands, You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. {3} Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table. {4} Behold, thus shall the man be blessed Who fears the LORD. {5} The LORD bless you out of Zion, And may you see the good of Jerusalem All the days of your life. {6} Yes, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel!
These two Psalms could almost be considered summary statements of the vision of Christian agrarians. You see the necessity of God being the source of your success, for he must guard the city and build your home. You find children, a quiver full, being arrows in combatting the enemy, and the cause of great rejoicing. You read of the blessing of eating of the fruit of your hands' labor. You finish with a multi-generational vision.
However, you also encounter a problem. Some of these things seem to be mutually exclusive. For instance, 127:3 states that "He gives His beloved sleep," and yet 127:5 states "Happy is the man who has his quiver full of [children]" and (128:3) "Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine In the very heart of your house, Your children like olive plants All around your table." But you tell me, how many families do you know, who have a house full of children ... especially babies and young children, who are receiving sleep from the Father? Sleep and full quivers do not seem to go together.
I am not writing about this "problem" in order to disparage the word of God. I write, rather, to recognize the tension that is often there in understanding how it all fits together. A similar thing was related to me from a man who is trying to build a farm, while needing to maintain his corporate job at this time. Milking early in the morning, and then again in the evening, with a day's work in the city in between, there is little time for sleep. And so there is a tension between the promise and the actuality. Does that mean that God's word is not true? Mh genoitw. (Romans 6:2,15 - "Certainly not!" or "God forbid") It is ALWAYS true. Does that mean the family with lots of arrows in the quiver, or a stuggling family business, is outside the will of God. Absolutely not! Indeed, they are, more than anyone else, actually pursuing the biblical vision! So why the tension between the promises of children, or of eating the fruit of your labors, and the promise of sleep? I am not so sure that I can answer that. But I think it has something to do with the fact that God puts us through many things that seem to contradict his promises, in order that we may cry out to him to fulfill his promises. And He, in the proper time, as we cry out to him, does fulfill those promises!
And so to those of you who are struggling between a rock and a hard place ... I want to heartily affirm you as you press forward in your calling. To be certain, you should always examine yourselves to see what difficulties may be of your own doing. As human beings, we for sure fall short. However, painful difficulty should never make us assume that we have fallen short, because it is through many troubles that we press into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). Rather, let troubles make us examine ourselves by the light of God's word, repent of any failing we find, and otherwise, press on! Those of you who are on the frontline of returning to a biblical (and agrarian) view of family and work (and everything else) are to be greatly appreciated. You are blazing a trail that untold multitudes of your fellow believers need to follow, but we are notoriously fearful of following in your path. Your courage inspires us. Don't turn back.
6 comments:
Great post Jon!!! Keep cranking them out. It is good to see you back to real posts.
Thanks for the encouragement. It was interesting to note that after I posted this, you posted something along the same line, and the same phrase even ended up in both places ("between a rock and a hard place") as the title for your post, and part of the body in mine.
It is important to note that faithful people are often in that position -- between a rock and a hard place (2 Corinthians 12:1-10).
The Lord's blessings be upon y'all as you minister to others through your farm, to the glory of God!
Have you hacked my site? Have you been stealing a peak at my advance posts? Or is this a case of...great minds think alike? LOL. I think you may owe me royalties or something of the sort.
I think you may owe me royalties or something of the sort.
Au contraire! I think I am the one to whom royalties are owed. Prior publication, and all!
:)
In response to this posting, I believe that the assumption that lack of sleep and many children go together. Lack of sleep can come from having 1 or 10. A better place to start would be, is it the Lords will to have lack of sleep, and if not, what is the reason. What is bringing this curse (if I may use that word in todays climate)upon us. You would be surprised to find the blind spots (sin) that exsist in our walk with Christ that really rob us of these promises. I do speak with experience because we are blessed with 9 children, and truthfully speaking, their mere presence in our home is not a reason for family disruption and unrest. It's usually some "oversight" of obediance on my part that brought something unwanted into our home. Remember, we still have an enemy that seeks to destroy the family in anyway possible. Its wise to rule out his part in this too. God Bless, George Emmert
Actually, the NASB reads, "He (the LORD) gives to his beloved even in his sleep." I think this translation is accurate; and this rendering makes sense. When we are between a rock and a hard place; when we are at our limit; when we are exhausted and have to rest (sleep).....at that time the LORD, who never gets tired or slumbers, gives to us. He is our Provider!
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