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NOTES for Psa 127

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1 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.
2 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.
3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
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If all labor is in vain without the Lord's participation, what follows from this? It would be tempting to reinterpret the words about the sleep He gives His beloved as meaning that one who trusts in Him may live like Emelya idling on the stove. Why devote oneself to vain earthly affairs? Would it not be better to recline spiritually and cast every care upon God?

But the Lord blesses neither laziness nor apathy. If our labor is done before His face, and our earthly service becomes service to Him, then such labor can be neither vain nor meaningless. Of course, it can be difficult to discern God's participation in our work; usually we notice only its human component. But this is not surprising, for what is most important and decisive is often imperceptible and may look entirely natural.

This is why the psalmist names as the Lord's chief reward something both so natural and so mysterious: children, the pledge that the life He created will continue and cannot be eradicated.

Other notes

 
For
1 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.
2 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.
3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
Hide
The reward promised for walking before God is an ordinary everyday life...  Read more

The reward promised for walking before God is an ordinary everyday life: the opportunity to eat the fruit of one’s hands and raise children. Such an offer may seem dull and tedious to some, but those who have experienced hunger, need, exile, and insecurity—the list could go on for a long time—know that the opportunity to work in peace and come home calmly in the evening is of genuine value.

How often we seek grand miracles, chase rumors of incomprehensible phenomena, and collect inexplicable facts. Meanwhile, so many everyday miracles escape our attention because they have become familiar and therefore go unnoticed.

But to those who walk righteously before God, the world reveals aspects of itself that escape the gaze of the superficial observer.

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