Except the LORD build the house

Bible Reading: 2 Kings 16; Titus 2; Hosea 9; Psalm 126-128

Psalms 127:1-2 A Song of degrees for Solomon. 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. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

What a fitting Psalm for the man used by God to build the temple for the worship of Jehovah! Here we learn the vanity of labor apart from the Lord’s leadership. How many men are building their kingdoms here on earth? How many businesses are monuments to men? They look at their accomplishments and say, “Look what I did…” However the Bible says that unless God builds your house all your labor is in vain. What does this mean?

It means that with God’s leadership a lasting household will be established. A man apart from God will build based upon the blue print he has seen somewhere else or upon the one he imagines in his head. This blue print will surely bring glory to the man himself. When the Lord builds the house the man is truly a recipient. God gives the plan and vision for life from the Word of God. The house that God builds will be something that is eternal and not temporal. An eternal house has the focus on relationships and righteousness rather than on bricks and mortar.

If God is not keeping watch over the city, the men who do watch are doing their work in vain. There is no protection apart from God’s watching eye. How many have labored to the point of exhaustion rising early and staying late to build a kingdom? And the Bible tells us to pray:

Matthew 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Whose kingdom are you building? Do you lie down and sleep at night because you trust the Lord with your future? Or do you stay up late working and worrying about how to make all your plans come about? This Psalm reminds us to allow God to build the house and protect your family. He is the Provider and the Protector and we must trust him! Jesus said:

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Jesus said this in the context of saying that the Gentiles seek after food, clothing, houses and lands. The follower of Jesus knows that God provides so we must seek his kingdom and his righteousness.

The house the Lord builds will be much better than the one you or I could build!

In Christ,

Rody

The great things of my law

Bible Reading: 2 Kings 15; Titus 1; Hosea 8; Psalm 123-125

Hosea 8:11-12 Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin. I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

Hosea lived during a time of apostasy in the nation of Israel. The people of Israel were led away from the worship of Jehovah in Jerusalem by Jeroboam who set up golden calves at Dan and Bethel. Jeroboam did this for political reasons because he was afraid the people would go to Judah to worship and not be loyal to his reign in Israel. God called these altars he had set up altars to sin. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23). God did not tell Israel to build these altars.

God did give Israel ‘the great things of [his] law’. Can you hear God speaking to Ephraim (another term for the Northern tribes of Israel) and rebuking them for neglecting the Word of God? The instructions for proper worship that God had prescribed and that he would accept were given through Moses. However, the people counted his law as a ‘strange thing’.

This reminds me of our day in some ways. Many so called churches have so departed from the Word of God in their practices that it is hard to tell they are a church. It is as if they sit around and dream up new ways to entertain people because they are afraid if they don’t keep church interesting and exciting the people will not come back. The sad tragedy is that in God’s Word are GREAT THINGS! The Bible is exciting! The Bible is interesting! If people depart when they hear the Word of God then they prove what Jesus said of the Pharisees in his day:

John 8:47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

Those who led Israel departed from the great things of God to altars of sin that came from their own ideas. In our day, if the leadership departs from the great things of God they too will set up altars of sin. We must not depart from the Word of God! We need to Preach the Word! (2 Timothy 4:2). Let me encourage you to get into the Word of God. There are great things in it that will change your life!

In Christ,

Rody

They will not endure sound doctrine

Bible Reading: 2 Kings 14; 2 Timothy 4; Hosea 7; Psalms 120 – 122

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

In chapter 3 of 2 Timothy the Bible informs us that in the last days perilous times are coming. In chapter 4 those perilous times creep over into the church. There is coming a time when people will not endure sound doctrine. They will not listen when the Bible is preached. But they will still be religious and go to church. Their solution to the problem will be to heap to themselves teachers who will teach what they want to hear. The Bible says this will come from the lusts of the heart. They have itching ears that don’t want to hear truth. They will instead find someone to tell them fables (made up stories) that will make them feel good.

We can see this happening in our day. There are many churches that will not hear what the Bible has to say. They have a ‘hireling’ for a preacher who tells the sinning saints what they want to hear. It will not take long before there are no saints at all in that ‘church’ and it will be a completely apostate group. How sad! How do we guard against this in our lives? We must know the Word of God and let preachers preach who truly proclaim God’s truth. That is what Paul told Timothy:

2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

When the Word of God is preached it does things in the hearers! It reproves and rebukes sometimes. It exhorts or challenges the saints to get up and be about the business of loving and serving Jesus.

Jeremiah 23:29 Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The Word burns, breaks, pierces and divides when it is preached. We need men who will preach the Word and not fables! We need to hear the Word preached and let God use it to break, burn and cut down deep within us. We need sound doctrine and the only place to get that is from the Word of God!

John 8:31-32 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

In Christ,

Rody