The Lord Builds the House

“Unless the Lord builds the House, they labor in vain who build it …” (Psalm 127:1)

The Flood of Noah accomplished a reset for the earth and her inhabitants. A family of eight was left, and from this family the world was populated all over again.

In order to rebuild what had become corrupted due to evil imaginations that continually dominated the hearts of the earliest peoples, the Lord set in motion a power washing. He concluded that season of storms with the revelation of the rainbow.

That band of colors was an ordered display of the big heart of God. Thanks to the discoveries of Isaac Newton, a scientist, philosopher, mathematician, and Bible believer, we came to understand how light reveals its shades when it passes through something prism-like. Every raindrop, it seems to me, may serve to present to our eyes the spectrum of colors.

And every raindrop can, to my mind, represent a tear shed by Him who sits on the Throne.

A couple dozen years ago, there was a huge country music hit “Holes in the Floor of Heaven” about how rain reveals how we are being watched and loved by those who have gone before us. Listen to it at your own peril – it’s one of those weepy tunes for sure.

I have come to think that the original rainbow showed up for Noah so that he could see the glory of the face of God shining through the tears of the Almighty and left lingering in the watery vapor above the freshly cleansed earth. I am left to ponder that picture because we understand that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (see Ezekiel 18:23 and 33:11).

Even in the aftermath of a near total judgment upon the human race, Light remained in the glory of the Lord. The rainbow hung in the clouds as the evidence.

And so concluded that expression of wrath from the Lord, and the next phase of human history began with these words: “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth’” (Genesis 9:1).

A Tower and Tongues

Did the peoples who descended from the Ark’s passengers obey Heaven in this matter? For some seasons perhaps they did, but then along came a sense of dissatisfaction and lust. This fueled a desire for the world’s citizens to “make a name” for themselves, as we read in Genesis 11.

Settled in the flat, easy plain of Shinar, the people entered into a natural project of collaboration. They began to slime together bricks into a Tower so that they could show just what they could do among themselves. Their common mindset and language created an atmosphere that moved them to stay put and push upwards rather than spread to the ends of the world.

It proved to be a labor of vanity. Why? Because of what we read in Psalm 127: “Unless the Lord build the House” the effort is futile.

This time the Lord employed another method to deal with the disobedience of man. He scrambled their tongues. Languages were introduced. It represented a clear strategy to divide and conquer.

Also this new reality forced people to use their ears. They had to listen for the sounds that matched the ones coming from their own mouths.

It is as if God said to the human race, “OK, so you’ve had a hard time hearing what I have to say; let’s see if you can hear someone right there in your midst.”

When we work to exalt ourselves, we become panicky and anxious, so much so that we cannot even enjoy the good food that Heaven has provided for us. We don’t really eat, and we don’t ever rest. Share on X

Here in the middle of the group of traveling songs, we have words that tell us how to let God work through us. It comes as no coincidence that this song comes right after one (Psalm 126) that referred to Israel’s defeat and captivity.

The nation experienced 70 years of separation from Jerusalem, the sacred city. More than a generation of the chosen people sowed in tears clinging to the promise that they would one day “reap in joy” (see Psalm 126:5).

The captivity God sent upon Israel was the result of the people’s turn toward idolatry over the centuries after they had demanded to have a king set over them. That very request was Israel’s way of saying that they could manage their affairs their own way with one of their own leading them.

At the Tower of Babel, the same spirit was in play. Men and women sought to raise themselves in their own strength. They were focused on the construction of this emblem and had chosen to ignore what God decreed as the premise for life as one of “fruitfulness and multiplication.” Before the Lord said this to Noah, He had said it to Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:28).

Here, in Psalm 127, we get a reiteration of the family and home-centered mission that God has set in motion at Creation. The words tell us that the busy, busy, busy life is an empty life – and also one plagued by insomnia: “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:2).

When we work to exalt ourselves, we become panicky and anxious, so much so that we cannot even enjoy the good food that Heaven has provided for us. We don’t really eat, and we don’t ever rest.

Babies as Arrows

What’s the real point of human life? Well, if the Bible is to be believed, the real point of human life is to make more human life. That’s right: making babies is the real business of humanity.

Read it right here: “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward” (Psalm 127:3).

More than a reward, children are described as “arrows.” This point was raised first in Psalm 8, where we see that by the noise of “babies and infants” the strength of the Lord is established on earth. He takes aim at His foes and stops the enemies in their tracks by the cries of children (see Psalm 8:2). 

Is this not exactly what happened on Palm Sunday, as Jesus entered Jerusalem? The children shouted and sang, “Hosanna to the Son of David” and those organized against the Son were stupefied. “And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased” (Matthew 21:15).

And the Lord encourages men and women to start young and fill up their quiver with kids. This is the high and holy way of the Lord in building His House.

And the Lord encourages men and women to start young and fill up their quiver with kids. This is the high and holy way of the Lord in building His House. Share on X

It’s quite fashionable to critique those who have large families today. Let me tell you something from the news. In Israel, the people have responded to the most recent attacks on their tiny nation by having more and more babies.

Yes, in the place where so much violence has happened, the Jewish people have multiplied at a rate 10 percent higher in the months since the atrocious Hamas attack in the fall of 2023, when 1,200 were slain – more than 350 of them attendees at a music festival.

God builds the House, and God guards the House as well. We need to obey Him and we’ll not be ashamed.

As Christians, we are seeing the Lord build. He adds to us brothers and sisters. These believers, people born again to new life, have voices that answer the enemies of Heaven. These enemies are always at the gate. For now, they are present with us, trying to discourage and defeat us. Hallelujah to the Lord always victorious.

A great day is coming however. One we see in Psalm 133. A good and pleasant day shall arrive.

Union and communion will flow like oil. All of life will be characterized by mercies that are new every morning. The Presence of the Lord shall rest on us and refresh as the dew does on mountain forests and rich valleys.

“…the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore” (Psalm 133:3).