Remember those long car journeys with the kids you’d have now and again?
Five miles down the road and they’d be saying “Are we there yet”?
We all know that in those circumstances, a wee break can make all the difference.
And that’s why, today, we’re pulling into a lay-by and getting out the picnic hamper, because we’re half-way through the Psalms of the Ascent and we still have a long way to go before we reach Jerusalem.
Psalm 127 is where we pause for a break today, and it’s a great Psalm to have in our minds as we get ready for the build up to Christmas and all the mayhem that goes with it.
This Psalm’s written in the style of King Solomon, who’s thought to have written the book of Ecclesiastes and the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament. Solomon was a master of the pithy saying and that’s what comes through strongly in this Psalm. It’s just good, basic, spiritual common-sense aimed at the worshipping community.
So what’s the Psalmist saying?
“If the Lord does not build the house, the work of the builders is useless;
if the Lord does not protect the city, it is useless for the sentries to stand guard.
It is useless to work so hard for a living,
getting up early and going to bed late.
For the Lord provides for those he loves while they are asleep.”
I wonder if that sounds the same to your ears as to mine?
When I first read that I found myself remembering a story about an old man who was very proud of his garden. When the minister stopped by one afternoon he got the tour, but all he said on the way round was “isn’t God’s work marvellous”. And that got under the old man’s skin, because he knew fine well how long it took him to get the garden looking like that.
At the end of the tour the minister said “Well, Jimmy, you and God have done wonderful things here”. And the old boy said “Aye – you’re right enough. I suppose we have. But you want to see the mess of the place when I leave it all up to him”.
The Psalmist is not suggesting here that we down tools and leave it all up to God, or that we take ourselves off to bed, content in the knowledge that all our needs will be miraculously provided for.
That’s not Biblical – there’s a strong current in scripture that says if you do not work, you shall not eat. Work’s part of the equation.
What he’s getting at here is something deeper and profoundly counter-cultural.
He’s saying it doesn’t matter how hard you work - if you leave God out of things you won’t find what you’re soul’s looking for.
You’ve got to get first things first. And God should always be first.
God, then relationships, then work. That’s the way it should go,
Love God, love your neighbour. Then get on with whatever it is you do in life. That’s all. God, relationships, work – in that order.
But the thing is, our culture is doing its damnedest to reverse that order. Work, then relationships, then, if there’s any time left over, God. It’s a complete reversal of the way things should be.
Where does that come from? Well, Genesis gives us an answer.
There’s Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. And God says “Make sure you get your five a day. But not from that tree, please”.
But the story says they didn’t listen because the apples looked good. The woman took the fruit – note that – the woman! – and gave it to the man who meekly ate because he didn’t dare complain when she’d gone to all the trouble of choosing it and picking it and shining it up for him. And he knew that if he complained it’d be the last time she’d reach him an apple….
So they ate. And their eyes were opened, we’re told. And two things of significance happened. Firstly they were cursed. Eve was told she’d struggle in childbirth, and Adam was told he’d have to work hard all of his life in order to make a living. And now, with more women in the workplacee, the ladies get a double whammy with that piece of good news.
Secondly, that act of disobedience brought a distance between humanity and God. Paradoxically, their eyes were opened, but God became harder to see. and harder to hear. Sin got in the way.
So in the story of the fall, God goes out of focus, and at the same time, work becomes more of a focus.
Fast forward a few centuries.
You’re looking down over a great plain where men are moving across the landscape like ants, dragging logs and carts full of bricks. A great tower’s rising from within a frame of scaffolding, already taller than anything that’s ever been built so far. They’re really putting their backs into it. Why? So they can make a name for themselves. So, through their work, they can finally prove themselves independent of God. They want to prove that they are self-made, autonomous people.
Do you see what’s happened in just a few short years? It started out as God, relationships work; but then came the fall. And by the time we reach Babel the pattern’s completely reversed. It’s become work, relationships, God. If God’s even there at all.
And that’s where we’re at in our society. We’re still building Babels. Still kidding ourselves that if we can just work a little bit harder, get a little bit more money, buy a few more of those things we think we need, then we’ll really have arrived. We’ll be the gods of our own lives. Self-made men and women.
That thinking has deep, deep roots that go right down into our culture. We’ve swallowed the lie so completely that to live in any other way makes us feel totally out of synch with the rest of society.
But that’s the worldview that the Psalmist’s critiquing.
Why are you sweating over building a house, when what you really want is a home? No point having a Beverley Hills mansion if the life you live in it’s miserable.
Why are you stressing out over security when what you’re yearning for is real community? If we tried harder to accept each other and look after each other maybe we wouldn’t need gated communities and security guards with guns.
Why are you wasting your best years amassing wealth, when you know very well that money can’t buy you happiness? Isn’t that the one thing the tabloid press is good for, apart from holding fish and chips? Showing us that money’s no guarantee of happiness.
How many people do you know who leave God aside and give their lives over to work and accumulation, ostensibly to provide from their families, and then find themselves deeply unhappy further down the line because they haven’t delivered the freedom they were supposed to? All that time invested in work and furnishing the 'dream' home, but not nearly enough in relationships or in God. And then they wonder why things crumble....
First things first, says God. I know you need these things. but don’t live for them. Don’t make them your God. Seek first my kingdom and my righteousness and all these other things shall be added unto you.
Make room for me, says God. Make time for me. There is nothing more important you can do.
“But I don’t have time, God” we say.
“Sure you do” says God.
"You have the same amount of time as anybody else. The question is, how are you using it?"
That is the question.
Is it work-relationships-God, or God-relationships-work?
How are we living? How are we using the time we’ve been blessed with? Is God building the house, or are we labouring in vain?
As we move toward the season of Advent that’s a good question to ponder.
Traditionally Advent was a time for slowing down and reflecting on the enormity of what happened on that first Christmas. It was a time for personal reflection and prayer to help us get back in kilter with God and ourselves.
And we can make it that again; but only if we choose to.
We have the time. What we need is the will to use it well. To get first things first.
I want to finish with a reading from the French priest and writer Michel Quoist. It’s simply entitled “Lord, I have time”.
I went out, Lord.
People were coming out.
They were coming and going,
Walking and running.
Everything was rushing, cars, lorries, the street, the whole town.
People were rushing not to waste time.
They were rushing after time,
To catch up with time,
To gain time.
Goodbye, sir, excuse me, I haven't time.
I'll come back, I can't wait, I haven't time.
I must end this letter - I haven't time.
I'd love to help you, but I haven't time.
I can't accept, having no time.
I can't think, I can't read, I'm swamped, I haven't time.
I'd like to pray, but I haven't time.
You understand, Lord, they simply haven't the time.
The child is playing, he hasn't time right now. Later on…..
The schoolgirl has her homework to do, she hasn't time….. Later on…
The student has his courses, and so much work, he hasn't time. . .Later on...
The young man is at his sports, he hasn't time . . . Later on . . .
The young woman has her new house, or new baby she hasn't time. .....Later on.
The workers are busy making their way in life……. Later on.
The grandparents have to look after the grandchildren, they haven't time. . ... Later on...
They are ill, they have their hospital appointments, they haven't time . . ....Later on...
They are dying, they have no . . .
Too late! . . . They have no more time!
And so all people run after time, Lord.
They pass through life running - hurried, jostled, overburdened,
frantic, and they never get there. They haven't time.
In spite of all their efforts they're still short of time,
of a great deal of time.
Lord, you must have made a mistake in your calculations,
There is a big mistake somewhere.
The hours are too short,
The days are too short,
Our lives are too short.
You who are beyond time, Lord, you smile to see us fighting it.
And you know what you are doing.
You make no mistakes in your distribution of time to people.
You give each one time to do what you want them to do.
But we must not lose time
waste time,
kill time,
For time is a gift that you give us,
But a perishable gift,
A gift that does not keep.
Lord, I have time,
I have plenty of time,
All the time that you give me,
The years of my life,
The days of my years,
The hours of my days,
They are all mine.
Mine to fill, quietly, calmly,
But to fill completely, up to the brim,
To offer them to you,
that of their insipid water
You may make a rich wine such as you made once in Cana of Galilee.
I am not asking you for time to do this and then that,
But your grace to do conscientiously,
in the time that you give me,
what you want me to do.
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