PSALM  127

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. So much of the labor I see in the world is what this psalmist would call “Labor in vain.”   People spend most of their lives, they “earn their living”, as they put it, in ways that seem far removed from anything you might be building, Father. This “work” with which we occupy our time can be, in point of fact, both blessing and curse.  There is, at best, something intensely satisfying about it, something challenging, fulfilling an essential need within the human spirit.  You labored after all, Lord God, at the Creation; even took time off--the seventh day--to step back and admire all that you had made, and call it “very good.”  Then you gave the man and woman work to do to “have dominion“ over all, to “till” and “keep” the garden.

On the other hand work can become destructive, not only when it is a fruitless and degrading task but also when its role expands to dominate a life, when work becomes obsessive, a demon that drives everything before it, or an escape from the more challenging demands of family, relationships, responsibilities.


Guide me to find, in the work I do this day, Lord God, that blessing which redeems all tasks from drudgery--your presence by my side.  Give me the strength to keep myself from everything that works against your kingdom and your will.  Let me taste the joy of being your co-worker in the building of a world of peace, of justice, and freedom.  Amen.

 

Praying the Psalms by J. Barrie Shepherd
         

You would..