Without God...It's Pointless

"Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain." Psalm 127:1

Sometimes I need to read a verse several times through before a meaning really sinks in. I read Psalm 127 this morning, and that is a very short chapter- just 5 verses long, but it's the first two that really caught my attention this morning. Here is verse two as well:

"In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves." Psalm 127:2

What these verses are just screaming to me this morning is that unless we have God with us, all we do is for naught. That second verse in particular... how many people do you know- or hear of- who work sun up to sun down, simply trying to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. Yet this verse says all that is in vain, and what I really think it's saying is that if you are a child of God, He will do the providing. This is an excellent word to find this morning and sear into my brain. Andy only worked two days last week... and this week isn't starting off well either, as he is home this morning due to weather. Christmas is coming, and we've had grand plans for gifts for all. And I'm really, really trying to keep my focus On Him. Because we've been promised, we've been shown that God will be looking out for us, and I'm determined to hold Him to that promise.

Yet, I read these verses, and they just amaze me. That very first one... I think about a person or a group of people who are unhappy with their current church situation, so they decide to start a new one. That happens a lot- that's how new churches are formed most often. But if man is behind the decision to try and form a new body of believers, it's not going to go very far. It's when God is behind the decision to start that new church that the church grabs hold and attracts followers. When God tells His children to build a body of believers, that's the church with the staying power. I know in my own little community several upstart churches have come and gone, and I have to think that is because it was man's decision to build a place of worship, and not God.

These verses today are just like so many that I've been reading lately. I love how when God is working on me with something that everything is related. Just about every message I've heard in the last month, and every book I've read, and most passages in the Bible that I've been reading center around one thing- and that is focusing on God. If I can just keep my eyes and ears on Him, He will be my rock and my deliverer. I love this verse in Romans:

"If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:31,32

If God is before me, who will dare come against me. Only myself, I'm afraid, and I need to get rid of that- I need to get rid of that doubt, of that human-ness inside of me that tells me that I can control everything. I need to let God take control. God is not going to be my co-pilot, as those bumper stickers say, I want God to be my pilot. I will let Him take me where He may, because I know He loves me and will not take me where I don't want to go.