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Welcome, welcome, welcome back. I'm your host, Zach. This is Izzy. Hi. We are going to jump into Psalm 127, one of my favorites.

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What makes it one of your favorites? Well, you'll just have to wait and see you, won't you? I'm very, very excited. But before we get there, as you guys know, our vision is to see every young person reach with the good news of Jesus. Something we can't do ourselves, but you could really, really help out. If you were listening on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts, hit the follow, drop us a little rating. And if you're watching this on YouTube, hello, hello.

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I don't know why I'm feeling so silly today, but if you're watching on YouTube, hit the alert, subscribe, and drop a comment. We're going to let you know what to comment at the end of this. But for now, why don't you open up your Bible to Psalm 127 while the credits roll.

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Hey, should we jump in? I'd love to start by just reading the whole thing. And then, I mean, this is a real short psalm. There's only five verses. So we'll dive into verse one and verse two. And then we'll go into three, four, five. But could you give us a read through just to start?

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Okay. Psalm 127, a song of a sense of Solomon. I'm just reading the bit that says under... Anyway, fine. First one. Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat. For he grants sleep to those he loves. Okay.

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Children are a heritage from the Lord. Offspring are a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children 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 opponents in court. Whoa. I started at the end there. Can we start by talking about A Song of Ascents? Yeah. And then Of Solomon? Yes. Tell me about A Song of Ascents.

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So the book of Psalms is quite a big old book. There's a hundred and something of them. Fifty, 150. Okay. Thanks for lobbing that one up to me. Thank you. I actually knew I was just trying to set you up so you seem super smart. And there's a good chunk of them. All the ones at the end are actually, that's not true. There's a good chunk of them that is the Songs of Ascents, which begins a few chapters before. 120 is the first one. 134 is the last of the Song of Ascents. There you go. What are the Song of Ascents? Easy.

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So I've got a little note. Apparently, there's a few interpretations of how that could have been used and stuff like that. But my little note I've got is that they would have been sang by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. The goal wasn't Jerusalem, but God himself. So it's like keeping their mind on God whilst they are pilgrimaging or walking a long way with holy intention. I guess that's a pilgrim, isn't it? Right.

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Well, I mean, I'll just say like a big part of Jewish culture was festivals. Yeah. And the festivals, I think all of the festivals happened in Jerusalem.

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I think, but for sure the big ones did. And like, I mean, we see, for example, Mary and Joseph and Jesus, if you recall the story where they leave him behind, that's them making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. People guess it would have taken like five days. So picture if you were Mary and Joseph or like you had your own family, you're walking to Jerusalem over five days, crazy.

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and reading these 15 songs as you're going. Kind of a cool concept. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty cool. And then also it says, of Solomon. Yeah.

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Which means, as far as I understand, theologians think that Solomon wrote this psalm. But what I think is cool about that is he also wrote a lot of the book of Proverbs. Yeah. And so, I mean, we'll later contrast what he's saying in this with what he also says about work in the Proverbs. Yeah. Because then we kind of get his full vision, right?

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Yeah. And he was one of the kings. So he was the king after David, which is quite a famous king. So it was his son. And then Solomon was the one that like asked for wisdom. So a lot of the proverbs and stuff is a lot of wisdomy, wise things. But he also then wasn't the best king in the end. But we can chat about that later maybe as well. A lot of the stuff he writes is wise, which is why people love the proverbs and love these Psalms.

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Shout out. Okay, let's get into it. Here's verse one and two. I'm going to read them again. I'm actually reading from the NIV today. Huge. I know. Usually I read from my little tiny brown leather ESV, but I really like the NIV, the way it phrases this song.

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So I chose to switch it up, get a little diversity. I've kept my usual. Shout out. Okay, here's verse one and two, and then we'll discuss it. It says, Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. I'm changing the plan. Can we just talk about verse one? Yeah, of course. What are your thoughts on verse one? Unless the Lord builds the house.

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I've heard this verse quite a lot, actually. I think people use this a lot, especially where we work in church, we work in ministry and it's kind of this mindset of if, if God's not in it, if God's not building it, then what's, what are we doing? So it's kind of, and that's what it's saying. If,

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If it's not God that is building this house, there's no point for us building. Because if he's not going the way, if he's not being the architect, if he's not leading it, then we're not. What's the point?

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I was watching something literally this morning about someone saying like, essentially everything in the world is, especially in the West, like the best it's ever been. Like statistically, the world is functioning at a really high rate. Sure. Like there's actually significantly less world hunger. This person was saying, I'm not sure if that's exactly true, but he was saying like, technically there's more to go around.

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And like all of these things, people should be really happy, but they're not really. And he said that like the reason why is perhaps because everyone's trying to build their own house or their own life. And maybe that's not the most satisfying thing or the most filling thing is just to seek after all of your own stuff. And I think that's right. And low key, like I've heard people say before, you can swap out your own kind of things into this. Yeah.

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So for me, as a youth pastor, I might say, unless the Lord leads the youth group, the youth leader labors in vain. Or if someone was a banker, I suppose they might say, unless the Lord looks after the finances, the banker labors in vain. Yeah.

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But I think the point is like, no matter what you do, if you don't involve the Lord, then it's not going to last because he's really the only thing that truly lasts. So only things that involve him will last beyond for sure this lifetime, maybe this season. I don't really know how long things are going to last. I guess it's also the purpose behind it, isn't it? Because it's not saying we shouldn't work, we shouldn't build.

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always asks us to like work hard and again we'll i'm sure we'll talk about that in a bit but it's like it's not saying to put down the tools it's saying we we are meant to build but we just need to make sure as christians we're obeying what god's asking us to build um and then because it's difficult like work is difficult working hard is difficult and so actually if we make sure we're building where god wants us to and where he is working then it's then it's worth it um it's another way that i see that too

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I like how it doubles, well, Solomon doubles down and also says, unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. It's kind of interesting how it's like the preparation as well as the upkeep. I don't know if that makes sense. But it's like in the building of something, but also once something has been established, it's not like, oh, we've involved the Lord in building this awesome thing. Now let's leave him behind. Yeah.

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It's actually, even in the maintaining and keeping safe and keeping sturdy, we still need to involve him. So even after going back to what I was talking about before, for me as a youth pastor, even after the youth group has grown with the Lord, I don't then say goodbye. It's, Lord, would you still watch over it? Yeah. Even now that you've built it. Or for, I don't know, what's some other people do?

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Well, it was a real job. Like, I guess you could go back to the banker like, oh, Lord, now that I'm well established in my career, great. Now I can just maintain it myself. But it's like even in the maintenance, we need God. In the building, we need God. In everything, I think we need God.

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Definitely. I also think, again, thinking of Solomon, he had experience of building because he built the big temple. It's one of the things, it's quite a key plot point that's linked to Solomon is that his dad kind of like started beginning the talks of building a temple and a lot of the plans and Solomon's the one who built it.

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um and led with that and i think like i think of that is that was a very much a god thing like god gave those plans and asked for that to be built and it's that was quite a grand thing as well it's a big long project where again it's like that's it's interesting even hearing like in solomon's wisdom of like keeping your eye on the right thing like it's it's even as you're building is like what

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What am I building for? Even as you're studying, it's like, what am I actually studying for? Because I was thinking about schools and university. It can be so easy to get lost in all the work and actually lose sight of the vision. And it's actually like, well, God uses these. When I work, if I'm doing it for God and I know that God's in it, it's like, well, I'm trusting that I'm building for what God is doing, which I think is quite encouraging. And it's a good reminder that it's even Solomon was reminding himself of that as he builds and looked after cities as a king. I don't know what they did, but surely.

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watch different city every now and then um but probably i don't know what they did on their throne um but still brought it back to actually it's it's about god it's it's not about this city it's not about um the physical build like building stuff it is all about god and the people that came along with that as well

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Yeah, I feel like there's such a temptation right now. I think for anyone who's watching this right now, who is a young person who's walking in faith and really trying to decide what kind of direction they want their life to take and what they want to actually have as their priority.

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I want to say, like, just be aware of what the world says is the priority, which is not this. It is productivity. It is independence. It is money and fame and all of those things. But that's a sharp contrast to what this says. Mm-hmm.

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Again, he's not condemning those things necessarily. I don't think that's the point in this exact psalm. But what he's saying is what is your priority? So I just want to say that to anyone who's...

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who's kind of thinking about walking with the Lord. I don't know if that's useful for anyone listening or watching, but point towards the Lord. That's what the Bible says. Walk with him and let everything else flow from that. I always think that actually practically, like off the back of what you're saying, I was reminded of a prayer that,

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I often say or hear around like my team at church, which I think is back from Moses. It's basically like if God's not going before me, we don't want to be there. Like we want you to go before us. And I feel like that almost links to this verse as well in this mentality, which is like if you're not building it, we don't want to build. If you're not there before me, I don't want to go there. And I think that's a really good like practical prayer for us to pray of like God can be like.

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if you're not there I don't want to be there guide me where you are at if you're not the builder I don't want to build so leave me with where you're building I think that's a really good like practical prayer for us to take away come on come on verse 2 yeah

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Hey, in vain you rise early and stay up late toiling for food to eat, for he grants sleep to those he loves. I was telling you about my theory of Christianity before. Uh-huh. The I think followers of Jesus should low-key be some of the best sleepers around.

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I just think, man, if it starts with him and he's walking before us and he's doing all the heavy lifting, that removes, in my mind, a lot of the worries and anxieties. Jesus says, do not worry about what you will eat or drink. Tomorrow will worry enough about itself. I'm just like, that sounds lovely. It does sound lovely. I still get so worried. Don't get me wrong. Easier said than done, but it sounds lovely. 100%. How's your sleep? How's your sleep?

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Oh man, well, it's a little warm in London right now. That's so real. So I'm not actually sleeping very well. So a cool Christian should sleep best? Yes. Right. Now that we've covered that, in vain you rise early and stay up late. That's so interesting. Yeah, what's he chatting about?

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in vain is like without purpose. If I were to translate that into language that I would actually use. I don't think I've ever used that in real conversation.

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Without purpose, you rise early and stay up late. For he is the one who grants things to us. I think that's really interesting because, again, we were talking about previously, this is written by Solomon. He wrote the Proverbs. One of my favorite Proverbs is this. Go to the ant, you sluggard.

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Consider its ways and be wise. It has no commander, no overseer or ruler. Yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? Interesting. Like it keeps going. I could keep reading. But if you were to just read, in vain you rise early and stay up late. You might think like every Christian should just be really, really lazy. But actually Solomon wrote both.

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And he wrote a lot about it. He didn't like laziness. He did not like laziness. But also clearly he doesn't like effort put in that's put before what the Lord wants to do or does things without him. So it really is a balance.

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Yeah. I guess it's where's your trust and reliance, isn't it? Is it in your own ability and what your, your own work or is it in God? And I guess that's kind of what he's saying here. It's like, if you're doing it in your own strength and relying on your own ability, then you're missing the point. Yeah. That's a good summary of verse one and two. Nice.

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Verse 3, 4, 5. Kind of take a twist. Just a little bit. Changes theme slightly, doesn't it? We start talking about children and offspring. Do you have any children or offspring? Negative, ghostwriter. Do you? No. No. No. Yeah. Why did you bring that up? Not that I'm aware of. I don't know. You knew that we did. Okay. I just thought I was just... Let me read verse... Should I read the whole thing? Yeah, let's do it. Children are a heritage from the Lord. Offspring, a reward from him.

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Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children 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 opponents in court. Why is Solomon to ignore kids?

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Tell me why. I'll be real. I don't really understand it thematically. I was hoping you could help me understand it from the point of view of like how this carries on from the previous part. But I did read kind of something that's cool around the language of it. Okay. That house and to build are the same root word as son and daughter. Mm-hmm.

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Like all of those words sound similar in the original language, which is kind of cool. So poetically, I guess if you're reading it in the original language, those words would have sounded similar. So there would have been continuity in that sense. But I still don't understand necessarily how children connect with relying on the Lord. I can make an educated guess. Please.

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So it's saying how the Lord builds the house and then also what should they have the city. What's the point of a house without people in it? What's the point of a city without people in it? And like... Good point. The Lord loves people. That's how he works. It's humans. And so actually it's like if you're not building a house, filling it with your like, if you're not building a family or building people in a godly way...

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And that's the theme I kind of, I saw it under, which is like, these aren't meant to be empty houses and cities. They're meant to be filled with people. And how do you keep filling houses? Keep making humans. Oh, okay.

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Though I guess also it's the first bit spoke a lot about like what are you relying on? What is your strength in? Real. And building and all that stuff. It's like you're relying on God and then it goes on to children and like then building your relational life. And actually it's that theme carries on. It's like what you're relying on to build that and build your legacy through that is still God. It's him that fills the house. It's him that fills the city. It's him that builds growth. But it's...

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by relying on him, not on our own strength. So I think that theme is also brought through to the second section.

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Wow, I think that's super cool. And even just as you were saying this, I kind of just also was reading the part where it says, like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. There's almost a sense of like the benefit of having people around you that are supporting you and having family that are close to you.

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it's almost like the warrior cannot fight without his arrows. And similarly, the one who builds a house and watches over a city actually needs to rely on the people in the city and rely on the people that are in the house and they strengthen them. I think that's really beautiful. Like rely on the Lord and rely on the community. Yeah. Shout out. That is cute.

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I also had a little bit of notes about that link of like how they're like arrows in the hands of the warrior. And it's.

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yeah arrows being the children and warrior being the parental figures i assume um and it's like children have to be like shaped and formed they're like the extension of the warrior their um of their strength and their accomplishments and it's again it's like how it's the the work of the warrior or the the parents is like that's actually what's given and shaped into the children and that's how yeah again their legacy is is is passed on but god's legacy through it

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Dude, that was a bar. I think it's interesting. You were telling me literally right before we started recording, we kind of sometimes just like chat about it a little bit. We talk every now and then. Every now and then.

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Every couple of days, we just chop it up. Converse, carry on. You were saying it's interesting how Solomon wrote this. Yeah. And he obviously built so many houses and would have watched over so many cities, like you were saying. But in complete contrast to that, he actually didn't really have much, like from what we know of him, close family, family.

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Another way of putting that is he had a lot of family, but none of them. 700 wives, 300 concubines.

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That's a lot. Yeah, that's a thousand people. Like, you can't be close with that many people. I wonder if he was writing this out of a place of building things that looked really impressive, but on the inside not really actually having any intimacy or relationship. And I also looked up, after you said that, like, who are his children now?

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the only recorded child he has is is king rehoboam like one out of those a thousand people that he got with is crazy and he wasn't a great king from like what the rehoboam yeah his son oh i didn't know that yeah i mean you can read into it it's all in the bible but it's like he made something interesting does it but they all do they all kind of fall apart by the end don't they

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But that's very interesting where it's these what he's writing was very relevant to himself, but it was kind of lost in him in a way, because especially towards the end, he built things in his own for his own self. And he didn't build this. He didn't pass on his legacy to his children like this godly wisdom is that was given to him.

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which is an interesting contrast, isn't it? Where we, all this wisdom comes from Solomon, but maybe that's even it again, where it's like, actually it's God's wisdom, not Solomon's in a way, where it's like, actually it's God is the builder and he was just doing what God was saying. And so then we can have access to it and learn from his decisions and his mistakes, I guess. But yeah, he definitely, he didn't do the family side quite as well, did he?

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Yeah, it's kind of funny. I picture like this is almost like you meet like a really, really, really rich dude. Like in today's standards, like some dude pulls up in a Ferrari and he rolls down his window and he's like, hey, son, like don't care about all these riches. Like I've had all of these things. I've built the houses. I've looked over the cities. I've bought the cars.

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But like if you don't have the Lord and if you don't have family, then like it's actually pointless. It's just empty. And like I feel like that's almost the sentiment that Solomon is pulling through here is if you aim for the wrong things, you'll end up empty-handed. Which is true.

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I mean, we were chatting earlier about that kind of what the culture says about independence from God and like seeking your own thing. I almost feel like there's also a what you could call in fancy language, a cultural script. Oh, I know. A cultural script. Yeah.

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Shout out producer Joel for that language. But a cultural script around children. I hear so many people talking about, oh, kids are just so much work. And like they cost so much money and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I even heard that like a lot of countries' birth rates are going way down.

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It is in sharp contrast that we read this. Yeah. Where it says children are a reward and a blessing and that they benefit their parents. What? Crazy. What a different view. Like Jesus loved children.

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He did. And I think it's definitely, this is speaking again, it's about the legacy and all that. It's the responsibility still of raising up children. That's not a light task. It's a responsibility and to do it well and to raise children in faith is not an easy feat, but it's speaking about the importance of it. And I think, again, these verses make it really clear that I think...

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God thinks children have a real place like in the community, like a real influence. Like they, they are, they should be prominent in the community. Um, and I even think of like our, our kids work at church. They often speak like every week of saying different, like prayers that their children were praying and like images and stuff and how God is like working through them so much. They're like, as God is using them and not overlooking them, why are we overlooking them as, um, like people of faith, um,

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um and and god jesus speaks about that quite a bit doesn't he about um childlike faith and letting little ones come and 100 all of that so i think it's big up big up kids

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Izzy, that's a really good point. I feel like that's a great place for us to end off. Guys, thank you so much for joining us. I would encourage you to do a little read-through right now by yourself and just pray to the Lord. Ask him to be the first of everything in your life. And maybe drop a hammer emoji in the comments. Because we're building. We're building. We're building our house for the Lord. Guys, thank you so much for joining us again. We will see you next time. Bye.