张国昇牧师 7/24/16
There
were two great kings in the history of Israel--David and Solomon.
The
thing that we remember David with is his victory over the Philistine giant
Goliath (1Sam. 17). We remember his famous
declaration of dependent, "You come against me with sword and spear and
javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of
the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." (1Sam.17:45). With that declaration he was inaugurated to a
life-long service to the Lord. To be sure, David had a rough life, he ran for
his life before King Saul; he fought battles with enemies and with his family
all his life. He was not a perfect man either. He committed adultery and
murder, yet he never stopped depending on God for mercy and help. He was called
the Man of God (2Sam 8:14), and God made a covenant with him that, "Your
house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; you throne will be
established forever." (2Sam 7:16) That promise was fulfilled when Jesus
came, and He was called the son of David. (Matt.1:1; Isaiah 9:6-7; 11:1) Psalm 23 is the autobiography of King David--a
man who found complete fulfillment in God.
And then, there is this glamorous King
Solomon, the son of David. He inherited the kingdom in its great glory and
splendor. He built a temple for the Lord and palaces for himself. The Bible
tells us of the luxurious life he led, "All King Solomon's goblets were
gold, and all the house-hold articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon
were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of
little value in Solomon's days. The King had a fleet of trading ships at sea
along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying
gold, silver, and ivory and apes and baboons." I don't know how baboons
are translated into peacocks in the Chinese Bible, anyway they are exotic
animals. Make no mistake! Solomon did
not have a wealthy father, 他不是富二代、but he had a godly father. To be sure, in the
beginning of his rule he loved and honor God ; and God blessed him. (1Kings
3:3) One day Solomon went to Gibeon to offer sacrifice s to the Lord. The Lord
appeared to Solomon at night in a dream and said, "Ask for whatever you
want me to give you." Solomon said, "Now, O Lord my God, you have
made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little
child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among
the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So
give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish
between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of
yours?" (1Kings 3:7-9) and God said, "I will do what you have asked.
I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been
anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you
have not asked--both riches and honor--so that in your lifetime you will have
no equal among kings." (1Kings 3:12-13)
If
Psalm 23 reflects how David sees the blessings of his life; Psalm 127 gives us
an insight of how Solomon sees fulfillment of life in his God given wisdom.
"Unless
the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stand guard in vain."
The
first verse of the Psalm sets the tone of the importance of knowing that the
outcome of everything depends on God. Unless God is involved in every aspect of
human lives, human efforts in steering their own lives will lead to nowhere.
Here Solomon describes two human activities towards whatever we consider as the
most important area of life： namely the work of building and the work of guarding
or keeping. Many of us spending all our life building up wealth, building
up an empire, or for that matter， building up of name and fame. Solomon in his
discernment from God tells us one basic truth: unless it is the Lord's
doing, human effort in either building or guarding what had
been built will be in vain. "In vain" does not necessarily mean not
achievable; rather it carries the meaning of
"pointless". It is hard work to build an empire； it involve even more
hard work to keep an empire. But even when you are successful in doing all that, what
is the point? What would all these worldly success lead to? Some
people might think that working harder is the answer to find fulfillment in
life. The psalmist says, "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）To be sure, working hard
can sometimes get to where you want to go or get, but at the expense of losing
sleep and health through worries. You may achieve and guard what you built, but
are they worth building? Worldly treasure will lead to nowhere! Jesus clearly
teaches us not to store up treasures on earth; but store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be
also.（Matt.6:19-21）
At first sight the second half of the
Psalm does not seem to have anything to do with the first half of the Psalm,
yet their thoughts are very much related. In Hebrew the word ‘builders’ bōnîm and the word ‘sons’ bānîm are very similar.
The Psalmist said, “Sons are a heritage
from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a
warrior are sons born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full
of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in
the gate.” (Psalms 127:3-5)
Sons are a heritage from the Lord. The word ‘heritage’
means more than just inherited property from one’s ancestors, the emphasis here
is more of a ‘gift’, a ‘reward’ from God. A gift is given for one to enjoy; not
something that one builds up for himself.
A gift is not something that we accumulate for a possession, it is a
reward given as a favor. The giver of the gift is God. God gives us children as
a gift not as a property for possession. Like houses or a city children is for
our enjoyment and protection. The children will take care of us when we are
old; they will defend us when we are accused by our enemies at the gate. Unless
it is God’s doing we labor in vain to build and to guard our asset; unless God
bless us with children we are left empty and unprotected. In other word the
real owner of our earthly possessions including children is God; we are his
steward to take care of his treasures. Children are a gift entrusted to us to enjoy
and to teach. We have the responsibility and obligation of raising them
properly as God intend us to do. Nothing is mentioned about money or wealth in
the second half of the Psalm; a godly family with strong bond of love is wealth
enough and honor enough.
Solomon in his God given wisdom understood
the truth and wrote this Psalm. But in his own life he sadly lose out on the
blessing because he relished worldly pleasure and success. His 3000 wives and
concubines lured him to worship their idols other than the one true God his
father David honored. In the end, in his old age, he found out life is
pointless without God. “Vanities of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanities of
vanities; all is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2 KJV) ‘In vain’ in Psalm 127 is not
the same as ‘Vanity’ in Ecclesiastes 1:2. ‘In vain’ means even in meaningful
things, if God is not involved in doing, our best efforts will still achieve
nothing; ‘Vanity’ means life without God is meaningless, it will lead to
nothing.
God has blessed many of us with godly
children, with big houses with well landscaped spacious yards and bank accounts
of large savings. God also blessed us with lives living to a good old age and
decent health. There comes a point when our children are all grown up and start
leaving the nest; the house becomes too big to clean and the yard too hard to
care for. Are we ready to let go the things that we have spent a life time to
gather? Consider Solomon’s experience ad advice. Consider everything we ever
have, our heritage, as a gift and a reward from God to enjoy and care for. They
are not properties for us to possess; they are entrusted to us temporarily in
this world. Jesus also teaches good stewardship in parables. For the faithful
and wise servants he will entrust them with more gifts and responsibilities.
(Luke 12:42-44) What a blessing when we have God in our lives; knowing that
whatever He builds in our lives, he will also guard. “I lift up my eyes to the
hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of
the heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you
will not slumber…” (Psalm 121:1-3) When the time comes, we are not afraid or
worried to let go things that we have because we know that God will entrusted
with new gifts or rewards to enjoy and to do if we are found faithful in his
sight.
