Psalm 127:1-2 NASB

Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.  It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

There are some who would look for any excuse to do as little as possible in any given responsibility, leaving things to people who care more than they do about the world around them. Irresponsibility is nothing but a toxic mix of laziness and carelessness.  Instead of caring about their environment, these people pollute it. Yes, there are victims indeed, but these are not victims.  They are users.  God help the nation that has to bear an overload of these free-loaders. Now, having said all of that, it is just as needful to say something about the other side of the coin.  Perhaps a greater danger are a people who are so in control of their lives, and so in control of their environment, that they have no need of God.  In fact, they have become as gods, creating a world of their own liking, needing nothing but more like themselves.  To these, Solomon warns, "Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain."  If there is anything our western world has proved these days it is, no matter how smartly we think we have managed our economy and our environment, without God's hand, it is a house built on sand.  If ever there was a time for the Christian world to stand apart from the world's system of security, it's now.  Our voice should be a clarion call to spiritual values that contradict the ways of the world, choosing, by our lifestyles, to live in the calmness and quietness of a God-centered life, where we can truly say, "The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want..."  Friend, there is no glory in being a work-aholic.  Work hard, but don't sell your soul to it. "It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep."  How have we let ourselves get sucked into the world's way of thinking; of frantic consumerism?  No matter how successful and affirming it looks, there's something terribly wrong with it.  My soul longs for this different way; in this dry and thirsty land.  Will you join me?  Maybe we can start a revolution of non-work-aholics.  Now there's a novel idea!

I Chronicles 29:19 NASB

...give to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies, and Your statues, and to do them all, and to build the temple (literally, "palace")for which I have made provision.

Solomon is a great disappointment and discouragement to me, every time, all over again, each time I read the story.  He started out so well, full of promise and potential.  He had parental favor.  He had political favor.  And, above everything, he had divine favor.  His father, David, had set him up for success.  The people were ready to follow.  And God blessed him with unparalleled wisdom and riches.  Yet, with all of this, he messed up.  What happened?  One thing.  Just one thing.  Solomon didn't maintain the "perfect heart" that David prayed for.  O dear one, let this be a lesson to all of us.  The "perfect heart", or the heart that is full or complete toward God, is not something anyone will do for us; and especially God.  The "perfect heart" begins and ends with something David spoke of earlier in this context, as he admonished his son:  "As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind (literally, 'soul')," I Chronicles 28:9a.  At any point our heart and soul part from wholeness and willingness, we are on a path leading to our own spiritual death.  And God knows when we've taken it, "for", as David added, "the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts," 28:9b).  This is serious business my friend.  God help us!  And that's what David is praying:  "O LORD, help Solomon!  Give him what it takes to go all the way!"  It's a great prayer, but God won't do in us what we won't will to be done.  This sovereign God will not usurp our God created will, not because He can't but because He won't.  The will is His sovereign release.  So it becomes our sacred obligation.  Sobering?  You bet it is.  This is the most sobering thing about us as human beings.  Here's how David put it:  "If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever," 28:9c.  So, is our spiritual life always in jeopardy?  No!  Not if we seek Him first, fully and finally.  Is that too much to ask?  Is that too difficult? I'd hate to think what my wife, Sarah, would think if I told her it was impossible and, in fact, intolerable, to give her 100% all the time.  Come on, my friend, we aren't serving some stupid, senseless, insensitive and half-hearted God here.  He gives all and He demands all!  Give Him all, all the time! You mean 100% faithfulness, purity and love?  Well, who in the world would want anything less and call it a holy union?  Solomon, in all his knowledge and wisdom, missed it here.  That's why he messed up.  It doesn't take brains to do better than this.  It takes heart!  All our heart!  This is what thrills me about God.  He's all heart, all the time, and He expects the same from me. I like this God!  And, better still, He likes you and me, and "if you seek Him, He will let you find Him."  Amazing!

I Chronicles 28:9-10 NASB

As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts.  If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.  Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be courageous and act.

Much of God's leading in our lives is confirmed by men and women of God around us, bringing needed counsel to help us along the way.  I don't think we are ever beyond this need, no matter our age.  Probably the most important thing in knowing divine direction is not so much in "hearing directly" from God, but in knowing those who know God.  Certainly these voices must intersect with "the personal peace of God" in anything, but, more often than nought, God uses someone else to help confirm His leading in our lives.  In the Old Testament, David had Samuel.  In the new Testament, Saul had Ananias.  And here, Solomon has his own father, David. A blessing indeed!  May we be this to our own children!  Thank God for these God-people in your life.  They aren't infallible, but they are inspired.  They will never be your savior, but they can be your salvation. They live on a different plain, bringing you to the same.  They will keep you to the essentials rather than than the shallow thinking and seeking that drives so much of our leadership these days.  They keep us honest, with the clarion call of all all the time:  know God...serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind...be courageous and act.  Cherish these people in your life.  God has brought them into your life.

Psalm 145:19, 21 NASB

He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them... My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD; and all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

I think you would agree with me that the value of the computer is in its capacity and capability for both informational input and informational output. And wouldn't you say that to lose either is to lose the computer's purpose and power.  The same is true of us spiritually.  Too many Christians are bloated with input, but are lacking in output.  Some of us are full of grace but do little with praise. There should be a natural reflex in all of us, that when God's grace is experienced, God's praise is extolled.  As we speak freely, quickly and eagerly of God's constant involvement in our lives, the world around us will know the source of our help, hope and happiness, causing them to "bless His holy name forever and ever."  Our silence is death.  On the other hand, there are those who are heavy into praise, but little on grace.  While the one is power without praise, this is praise without power.  The clear reality of both, working in sync with each other, is a dynamic that testifies to the world as nothing else can.  And oh what grace!  "He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them..."  How can we not but say, "My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD."  Surely the world ought to hear us and say, "Oh what praise!"

Psalm 145:8-20 NASB

The LORD is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. 
The LORD is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works.
The LORD sustains all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down.
The LORD is righteous in all His ways, and kind in all His deeds.
The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.
The LORD keeps all who love Him.

The Psalmist begins this Psalm with the words, "I will extol You my God, O King; and I will bless Your name forever and ever.  Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever.  Great is the LORD and highly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable."  But even as He extols Him, he experiences Him.  This God who is so beyond us in greatness, is so near to us in grace!  This is what became so evident in the Old Testament time, confirmed in the New Testament time, and recognized in our time.  Our God spans all time and covers us with the same umbrella.  Our cultures may be different, but not the content.  In any time and any place, if you dip your cup into this bowl, it comes up with grace.  Grace!  Grace!  God's grace!  O taste and see that it is good!  I like this God!

Psalm 144:3, 15b NASB

O LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?  Or the son of man, that You think of him?  Man is like a mere breath; his days are like a passing shadow... How blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!

There are two things that will hold you in good stead, and help you keep a level head, all the days of your life:  (1) Know who you are and (2) Know who He is.  In other words, know yourself and know your God.  And the most important thing to always keep in mind about ourselves is the brevity of our lives--"Man is like a mere breath; his days are like a passing shadow".  A real grasp of this truth will take the strut and stupidity out of anyone.  But in spite of the stench of death all around us, man just doesn't get it.  We stupidly strut our way through our short life.  This reminds me of an incident my younger brother, Dwight, witnessed years ago.  Going into a small hardware store in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, he noted that someone had slapped a note on a young, strutting worker's back that said, "Pateenme por ser burro".  Literal translation:  "Kick me for being an ass".  How many of us are strutting around with a note like that on our back?  The very brevity of life should cause us to keep a right perspective of life.  But, in that,  the most important thing to always keep in mind is the One who always keeps us in mind.  Here's how the Psalmist put it:  O LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?  Or the son of man, that You think of him?  It's this greatest of great truths that causes the Psalmist to say, "How blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!"  What else can anyone say?  This is the most amazing thing about anyone of us; not what we think of ourselves, but that God should think of us at all!  And He not only thinks of us, but He takes knowledge of us!  He puts His attention on us!  Need we say anything else?  No!  We should just bow down and worship.  Amen! 

Psalm 143:1, 6, 7, 8, 10-12 NASB

Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications!  Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness! ...I stretch out my hands to You; my soul longs for You, as a weary land... Answer me quickly, O LORD, my spirit fails... Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; for I trust in You; teach me the way in which I should walk; for to You I lift up my soul... Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good Spirit lead me on level land.  For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me.  In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.  And in Your lovingkindness cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul; for I am Your servant.

Have you ever tried to hold God to anything?  Say what?  Yes!  This is what King David is doing in this Psalm.  He prays this pleaful prayer on the basis of a commitment God has made; and He appeals to that commitment, putting God under a sense of obligation if you will.  David's sense of expectancy is based on a Levitical law that allowed a "freed" slave to give himself back to his owner as a "bond-slave"; a freed slave who now freely gives himself back to his owner, committed to him for life; even to die for his owner if necessary.  The owner in turn committed himself to care for the slave, but now on a different and unique basis;  one of love rather than law, which is the basis of David's prayer, laid down in verse 12:  "And in Your lovingkindness cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul; for I am Your servant."  O the beauty of prayer based on love.  Love has reason to expect from the other, simply because there is the commitment of love to one another.  There are certain things lovers can expect of one another, without reservation, because those in love are committed to giving of themselves to each other unreservedly.  This is the "right" of love!  This is the passage of love!  This is the prayer of love!  Thus David can say, in what almost sounds demanding to one who does not know this relationship, in words flowing out of love and appealing to love, "Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications!  Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness!  ...I stretch out my hands to You; my soul longs for You, as a weary land... Answer me quickly, O LORD, my spirit fails... Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; for I trust in You; teach me the way in which I should walk; for to You I lift up my soul... Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; let Your good Spirit lead me on level land.  For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me.  In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.  And in Your lovingkindness cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul; for I am Your servant."  A lover's prayer is a powerful prayer.  It feels!  It longs!  It seeks!  It appeals!  It expects!  It trusts! 

Psalm 139:23-24 NASB

Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

The Psalmist begins this Psalm with "O LORD, You have searched me and known me," then ends it with "Search me, O God, and know my heart..."  Sandwiched between these two, the Psalmist speaks of God's Omnipresence and Omniscience.  In this light, of God being everywhere and knowing everything, King David is pressed with the powerful need to know what God knows about himself. Truly, nothing can be hidden from God, but we often hide ourselves from ourselves, and David feels the utter folly of this kind of hiding.  He recognizes it as "the hurtful way", or, literally, "the way of pain".  The most serious prayer anyone of us can ever pray is that God would expose anything in us that would finally bring great pain in our lives and others lives; that, at any cost, he would not let us get away with that which will finally destroy us.  And with this prayer is a second like unto it--"And lead me in the everlasting way."  May God help us to pray these with all our heart.

Psalm 139:13-18 NASB

For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.  I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.  My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.  How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.  When I awake, I am still with You.

 As I write this, my wife, Sarah, and I are awaiting news of the imminent birth of our seventh grandchild.  I'm in Kenya and on my way to Uganda, but Sarah stayed in Indiana, just in case the call comes for her to head to St. Louis.  We never get over the joy of this; first with our three daughters, and now our grandchildren.  They are precious in our sight, but, more than that, they are precious in His sight. No matter where; no matter who; and no matter what, every child is already known by God.  From the moment any life is conceived, they have God's full attention and involvement.  Our second daughter, Maria, and her husband, are adopting a baby from the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Our prayer is that Oliver might be with us by Christmas, but, no matter what, we know one thing--little Oliver is under God's full attention and involvement.  This truth doesn't cease as we grow older.  The Psalmist exclaims, Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.  How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.  When I awake, I am still with You.  God just doesn't stop thinking about us!  This is what I'm counting on for Oliver.  This is what I count on for all my children and grandchildren.  This is what I count on for my own life. I like this God!

Psalm 139:7-12 NASB

Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from Your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.  If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.  If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,"  even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day.  Darkness and light are alike to You.

As children, we used to love to play hide-and-seek.  And there was no prouder moment than to find that one place where no one could find you and they would finally just give up. The only problem was not knowing that the game was over, but you were still hiding. Not because we're playing hide-and-seek with God, but because sometimes we wonder if He knows where we are, we can be assured that He always does. The Scripture clearly indicates that there is only one thing that that will separate one from God.  Just one thing; and that one thing is the willful practice of sin, which is putting my will before God's will. Other than that, nothing!  Nothing!  The Apostle Paul rejoices in this in Romans 8:35; naming several catastrophic possibilities, he says (v.38), "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  I wonder if he didn't get his inspiration from Psalm 139:7-12?  It's certainly what King David was feeling.  Remember this glorious one thing, dear one, no matter what, God is right there! He takes it upon Himself to be ever present and to keep His eye on us all the time.  In the worst of circumstances, "even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me."  It's just who He is and it's just what He does.  I like this God!

Psalm 139:1-6 NASB

O LORD, You have searched me and known me.  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.  You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.  Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it all.  You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand on me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it.

Have you ever thought what it would be like if someone could actually read your mind, or be able to see you at any time?  Well, this is what the Psalmist is trying to grasp in Psalm 139.  He describes the omnipresence and omniscience of God in relation to his own life, in that God is everywhere and knows everything.  That can be terribly troublesome or wonderfully comforting, depending on which side you're coming from.  There should be nothing more terrifying than the knowledge that God would know my ways, when my ways aren't His ways.  But, on the other hand, there is nothing more wonderful, as we are walking in the ways of the LORD, than feeling the watchful eyes of Him who is "intimately acquainted with all my ways".  The beauty of this truth, with one who is walking with God, is that this ever present God is there to help us, not to haunt us.  He "boxes" us in, as it were, with His care--"You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid your hand on me."  I like this God.

Psalm 138:3, 7-8 NASB

On the day I called You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul... Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me...Your right hand will save me. The LORD will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O LORD is everlasting; do not forsake the works of Your hands.

I have found that nothing helps my spirit more than the daily practice of early morning reading and praying.  There are certain disciplines I've incorporated into my life, but nothing has served me better than this hour alone with God.  So many times (more than I like), I have awakened with a heavy heart.  Sometimes there are things swirling around in my mind that affect my morale.  But, almost without fail, especially as I read God's word, and many times when I concentrate in prayer, my spirit is helped.  Just as real as I'm sitting here writing this, I have felt strength to my soul in these vital moments.  You see, the words of the Psalmist aren't some fantasy.  They're real.  They're true.  They're powerful. This is something God wants anyone of us to be able to testify to, that "On the day I called You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul... Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me (keep me alive)..."  With this, I think one of the most wonderful promises in Scripture is found in Psalm 138:8: "The LORD will accomplish what concerns me."  Isn't that great!  The Creator of the universe concerns Himself with everything that concerns me. Amazing!  I can't think of any better care than that.  That's why my spirit is helped as I look to Him each morning.  Try it.  It will be the best thing you ever did.