The Lord Builds the House (Psalm 127)

Zane and his dad, Kevin, converse about Psalm 127 and how the Lord is the builder of our lives.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Clear Path Scripture, another episode. Sitting here with my beloved dad. Many of you know him and love him. And uh some of them just know me. Some of some of them just know you, yeah. Um, but uh I invited him over to to do this podcast with me. I was as I was reading the Psalms this week, Psalm 127 really stuck out to me. And I think this is a Psalm of Solomon, and it's uh it kind of is a wisdom saying. Uh I'm gonna start at the beginning of Psalm 127 in just a second. It's kind of a saying of wisdom that sort of goes along with his things he might say in uh in his other writings. And so uh when I think of people that I think for a long time have made wise decisions and been disciplined and continuously done the right thing, uh then I think of think of you, Death. Thanks. And so I uh I think a lot of people have that that view. And so I thought of you when I read this and just thought, you know what? We should record record a podcast on this. So I'm going to read here from Psalm 127, verses one through two, and we'll see what comes out of it. Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat, for he grants sleep to those he loves. Anything jump out to you there?

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Well, yes. Um the first thing I saw was a little twist on the start in uh verse one that I live in a house that um I didn't build. And um when I when I I switched this up in my mind a little bit, and uh unless the Lord pays for the house, yeah, the people working are are not getting where they need to get. Um we uh I it took me back to the job that I had for 33 years with the fire department in Dallas, and and uh several people know the a little of the story that I went through, the some of the things that he did that made it very clear to me, um, made it very comfortable to me also through my life that I was where I was supposed to be. Um he did a couple of things that were supernatural and made it clear to me that he provided that job. And uh I likened it to the fact that I went to college for four years to get a degree in forestry that I then took to downtown Dallas and did not put to use.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

That could have been cool. We could have grown up on some kind of uh a uh national park or something.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Your mom keeps telling me that she'll go to Colorado with me if I want to go be a park ranger now, that I'd be great at that. She said, You that'd be just right down your alley.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

You like to talk to people. That would have been a different life than suburban Dallas, but I like this one too.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

But uh I just just looked at the way that he provided that job and my directed my steps to be in that job to provide income for our family and to pay for that house. Um, he has he has always blessed us financially. I've always said that I felt like the Lord went before me and uh smoothed out some some bumps in the road before I got to them. And uh so that was uh that was the first part for me. And uh I guess if if you want to jump in, I'll I'll also add up and talk about some of the uh the sleep that it talks about that he gives us uh at the end because he's he's certainly met me in that too.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Okay, yeah, I mean this this first line, of course, has quite a punch to it because you can apply it to so many aspects of your life, unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. And I think that as a person who a lot of times has high aspirations, I don't normally set my sights on on new endeavors very low. If I start something new, I'm like, I want to, I'm you know, setting it really high. And so I think a lot of times that I can I can get into self-reliance. And I think self-reliance is a major danger in in life. And I have felt that certainly in business, and I can relate to knowing that God led me into a certain business and and was the one providing you know my business, it relies on a certain level of leads, and we can kind of do some sort of advertising for those leads, but whether or not they they come in is I can't control it. And so I have to trust the Lord to watch out for those things. But even, you know, in other areas of life, um, let's say in ministry, for example, as we build a church, you know, we can make a lot of man-made things that look like really good ideas. And I've done it a lot of times, I think, that there are moments when I have left the Lord's ideas behind and started to operate in my own ideas. And what I have come to realize more and more over every year is that dependence is so required. Because there are plenty of things that I kind of want in my life that I can get myself. And everything that I really, really want in life, I have no control over. Whether it's something that it would be very basic and important to everyone, like let's say the health of my family, you know, my my kids, my wife, I can't do anything to keep them healthy, you know. It it that comes down to to trust in the Lord. Or, or when it comes to even uh more eternal matters, like let's say the salvation of a person. I can come pray for a person, I can try to instill wisdom in them or read scripture with them or pray for them. And in the end, I can do nothing to awaken their soul to the love of God. So most things that I find to be really important, I keep coming back and I go, man, I sometimes I get into trying trying really hard to be the builder. And I think I'm doing really good things, and anyone watching me would think that I'm doing really good things. But sometimes my heart in those moments is not in a place of dependence. And I realize that I am absolutely without any ability to make the most important things happen. I can't heal anybody, I can't fix anybody's troubled marriage, I can't make somebody have good relationships, I can't take some, I can't get somebody into heaven, you know? It's literally all dependence on God and everything that is the most important and vital to our lives. And so I think that what you're saying is exactly right that we are always looking to what God's doing, always trying to be aware of when God's doing something and not us. And then whenever we find those things, man, we have to double and triple down on them so that we don't get into living by our own strength.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

I think it's uh it's as you say, that it has so many fingers in so many areas. Um while you were talking, I was thinking about that we think we know how to do a good job raising our children. And we uh we put some things in place and we guide and we direct and we demand and I think you nailed it. Yes, obviously. Obviously. Um but I think that as as I've aged, I've realized that there are so many things that I need to let God into earlier. When I think that I still have it all figured out and it's going swimmingly, yeah, that until things turn south, then I turn to him and go, oh, I need your help. That that if I look for his help and look for his guidance and direction in the way to address my communications with people, uh my communication with my children, with my wife, with the care that I give that, the the importance that I give that, that um, you know, over the many times over the years when I'm talking with with young men about marriages and maybe there's some struggles going on, I would tell them, look, when I started taking my wife for granted too much, that I would just tell myself, how am I gonna feel when the guy at the office starts paying her the compliments that I'm not and treats her the way that she should be treated that I'm not, that I'm taking her for granted and I'm not paying attention, that I'm gonna pick up my game. So maybe I should pick up my game ahead of time. So maybe I should take those things to the Lord, even when I think I'm doing them pretty well in my own strength, and get his input. And it it makes things turn out so much better. It also gives me a sense of peace that I'm not on my own, that I know he's right there walking with me and giving me guidance and direction. Um, he gives me guidance and direction when I have things wrong in my body. Um, I'm dealing with some knees right now, and I've really been listening. Um and I think that he has shown me over and over that he gives me insight into my body and the way that it works and the way that I can make something better. I know this body's aging, and that uh we're not all gonna be like Caleb and be as strong at 80 as we, you know, when we were in our prime. Um You're close. Yes. Uh yes. No. Um, but uh I think that that this does have lots of fingers that we just need to get his input in all the houses that we're building in our lives, in all the areas that uh I think a lot of times too that we that we resort to protection.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

It's like if we get something good in our lives, then our focus in life becomes very defensive, very protective of of what we have, whether it's our um I'm certainly this this is very true in monetary issues, uh, but it can also be true in family issues, personal issues. And I that's what comes to my mind too when it says, unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. Like sometimes I feel like that God's given me something and I turn into a guard who's watching over what God's given me, going, Oh, I hope I don't lose that. Instead of actually looking for the next place in life that God's taking me, like I can just listen and follow him into the future instead of you know hoarding and guarding the good things that he's that he has put in my life. And I think all these things that we're talking about, uh we could probably uh we could pr it probably wouldn't be that hard to talk for figure out how to talk for hours on these two verses, but all these things that we're talking about, then he says, in vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat. It reminds me of the scripture when uh I I quoted it to somebody in a prophetic word on Sunday. But whenever God says, or when Jesus says, Hey, the the birds, they don't store away food and still God feeds them. Don't you know that God cares about you more than them and that he'll provide for you? And so often I think that we our whole mindsets are caught up in survival and in comfort and in not losing the comfort that we've already found. And so we turn into kind of these hoarders of life instead of following God into whatever best he has for us that sometimes feels risky even, but it's just saying yes to whatever God asks for and trusting that that he has the best for us.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Another thing that I've come along in my life is to really be intentionally thankful. While I don't want to hoard things, and I tell God on a at least a weekly basis that my trust is in you, not in my bank account.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Um, that I know that can all go away. I know that you're the giver of that. I know that you're the keeper of that, not me. And I just think that when when things are going well, when when somebody's not terribly sick, when somebody's not we haven't just lost someone, that we're intentionally thankful and appreciative of those times. Um while some of my best times with God are when I'm desperate, that I try to make sure that when I'm not in that, that I'm intentionally thankful on a regular basis to let him know how much I appreciate the blessing in in my life, and that I want to try to spread that out. That I've I've said my whole life that he's given me so much that I really really feel like it's I'm indebted to try to to spread some of that out to the the people around me. The last thing I was going to talk about was uh that uh the last part of that, for he grants sleep to those he loves. You've had some issues with that. I've had some sleep issues. And uh here maybe a year ago, I was in the throes of a bad, bad time. And uh it's not like I haven't spent many nights talking to God. And you know, I understand that, well, if you can't sleep, you can pray. Well, I understand, but I need to sleep. And uh that God really really met me one night and gave me, I'm not gonna call it a vision, but it was it was close. It was very close, and that uh I was I was really having a lot of anxiety about not sleeping. And you know what that does? That means you don't sleep. You sleep less. And that uh I was was talking to to God one more time, and uh he uh just out of the blue, he he asked me, Do you remember when you were a boy in Grafton? We lived there from the time I was seven until I was eleven. And I said, I certainly do. And he said, and do you remember what it was like sleeping in your bedroom there? I had a bedroom that was also the laundry room and was separate from everybody else's rooms in the house, bedrooms in the house. Um a carport on one side of it that a door went out to, and the backyard and the woods that went out the other side. And I was afraid every night. And he said, Do you remember when you were afraid every night? I said, I certainly do. And he said, And do you remember what the best nights were? And I said, Yes, when it was so hot that the one window air conditioner we had in my folks' room that they would, my dad would tell me, it's too hot for you to sleep out there, come in here and make a pallet beside the bed. And I said, It was my best nights because I didn't have to be afraid. I wasn't by myself. And he said, he said, Kevin, you can make a cot right here. I was at beside him in the throne room, and he said, You can, and we got really good cots here. He said, I mean, it's soft and comfy. And uh he says, those fears you had as a boy, they become what you now call worries. And they're causing that same kind of anxiety, and you're completely safe here, and you can just lay those down, just take those worries and lay them over there to the side. If you want to pick them up in the morning, you can, but you don't need to. And then I hear him kind of say, Hey, and he calls this. I realize it's an in my mind, it's a big angel. I can't see its face, but it's huge. Yeah. He says, Hey, Kevin's gonna sleep right here tonight. So I want you to stay over. He's gonna, he's got some stuff there. I want you to watch over him and his stuff. He's gonna rest. And I'm telling you, I all the tension went out of me, all the anxiety went out of me, and I slept. And it doesn't mean I haven't had bad nights since then, but uh I regularly envision that. And I quote one of our scriptures that were in our liturgical prayers from years ago. He who abides in the shelter of the most high shall find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord. He alone is my refuge, he is my God, and I trust him. And I many nights will imagine myself laying right there on a pallet. And uh so when I when I read this, that jumped out at me that he's the guy that makes me be able to sleep at night. And uh it has made a it's made a big difference for me.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

I'm definitely grateful for that. I'm gonna be claiming it tonight. I've had some uh slight respiratory issues the last couple days, and last night it kept me from sleeping for about half the night. And so I I uh I was reading back through Psalms today, just even thinking about doing this podcast, and I read that line and I was like, yes, he grants sleep to those he loves. God, I need to sleep tonight. So um it's amazing that God cares about us, even in the small things. Like you can look at something like sleep and think, oh, that doesn't sound, you know, eternally consequential. But I think this tells, of course, we know that it is medically consequential to us by every regard. But even so, I feel like that this is such a beautiful picture that God sees us right where we are, that you could easily think that God's so big and so powerful that your sleep is really low on his list. But I think the fact that he cares about our sleep and intentionally gives sleep to those he loves, it really brings us back to that idea that God is a father. And I've been re-trying to remind myself lately to relate to God as a father and one who takes care, one who provides, one who protects, one who puts you in situations that are good for you. And uh I think you always did that for me. I always try to do that for my kids. And I'm I have renewed my intention lately of just talking to God as a father and letting that be my main identity. And so I hope that whatever, whoever's listening, I hope whatever your issue that you have to deal with at this moment in life is, even if it's not sleep, I would like you to just be reminded right now that God is mindful of you and that he actually is involved in caring about those small but important details of your life. And he plans to care for you. And so I'm just gonna pray us out, Lord. Thank you for that, God. Thank you that you are the builder of our lives, thank you that you are the protector of our lives, and that that our job is actually to follow you into all goodness, that our job is to be obedient to you and to trust you. And to work hard alongside you, but then to rest in your provision and the fact that you know better than we do and you accomplish better than we do. And so, God, we thank you for sleep, we thank you for food, we thank you for all the little ways that you are mindful of us. And we pray that you would remove worry from our lives and that you would just bring us back to recognizing you as a good father who leads us into the right work, who leads us into the right ways to sleep, who speaks to us, who sends even angels to help us and protect us. I mean, God, you're so good to us, and don't let us forget that. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Hope all of you are encouraged as you listen to this and just begin to think about all the ways that God takes care of you and is going to take care of you even this week. Dad, I love you.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Love you too, son. And uh just while you're praying there, I just thought, you know, it's it's about trust. And we can trust him. Uh, I've really been singing that song a lot lately. Of he had never failed me, why would he fail now? And he won't.

unknown 23:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

So I would I would leave y'all with that. That that uh he's trustworthy.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Yep. Put your trust in him. Talk to you guys. Well, talk to you guys next week if we don't see you at church before.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

I'll see you at church.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

I'm gonna be out of town, but I'll I'll uh see you guys soon. Love you all. Bye.