“How much land does a man need?” is a short story by Leo Tolstoy about a peasant named Pahom. At the start, he is a content and hardworking man. Unfortunately, he makes the mistake of thinking that more land would make his life better. He purchases more land. One day, he hears a better deal. The owners of the land promise to give Pahom all the land he can walk around in a day for a very cheap price. But there is one condition: he must reach his starting point by sunset that day. Pahom believes he can cover a great distance. He stays out as late as possible, marking out land until just before the sun sets. Toward the end, he realizes that he is still too far from the starting point and runs back as fast as he can. He finally arrives at the starting point just as the sun sets. People cheer his good fortune, but exhausted from the run, Pahom drops dead. His servant buries him in a grave only six feet long. Ironically it answers the question, “How much land does a man need?”
Tolstoy invites us to pause and think about big questions of life: “What’s the most important in life?” “What do I live (work) for?” “Where am I going?” Psalm 127 is called a wisdom psalm. In this psalm the psalmist teaches us to number our days aright, that we may be more God-centered in our everyday lives.
Life without God: “I Can”
Psalm 127 consists of two segments. The theme of the first is a warning about “life without God” (vv. 1-2). Another word for life without God is a “I-am-in-charge” life. In 2009, Morgan Freeman played the leading role as South African President Nelson Mandela in the movie “Invictus,” meaning unconquerable or undefeated in Latin. The movie begins and ends with Freeman reciting the 19th century poem, “Invictus.” Its ending goes like this: “I am the master of my fate / I am the captain of my soul.” Many people in our culture live by this belief. But the psalmist teaches us that this is not true for the people of God.
In Psalm 127:1-2 the psalmist repeats Hebrew word shaw’, meaning “in vain” three times. Shaw’ means nothing or nothingness. In this case the house gets built but achieves nothing, has no intrinsic worth. We work hard, but accomplish nothing. We are busy with many things, but arrive nowhere. All our human effort such as building a house, guarding a city, and daily work eventually becomes anxious toil unless God is at the center. Probably Many of us remember the story of the Tower of Babel. People migrated from the east were gathered and began to work together for a great cause – building a great city for everyone. They said to each other, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves” (Gen 11:4). It was a great work project, possibly beneficial for many. But the problem is their work, their effort, their plan is at the center, and God is at the periphery. So the result? With much effort, yet nothing accomplished. At first, the tower seemed to get taller, higher, built, but eventually achieved nothing. Everyone was confused, scattered. Anxious toil.
The Hebrew word for sin is hata, which means to “miss the target.” The nature of sin is to take good things and twist them, so that they miss the target, the target of God. The story of Martha is a good example. Martha welcomed Jesus into her home. It was a great thing. But she was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. With her own plans, thinking that she had to feed Jesus and his disciples, and entertain them, Martha got anxious, worried, angry. She started with good intentions, but missed the target, the purpose, God. Anxious toil. Like Martha, how many times are we tempted to charge ahead with our own plans, and when things don’t go as planned, we get discouraged and angry?
Life with God: “I Can’t, But He Can”
In the second part (vv. 3-5) the psalmist shows the example of what “life with God” looks like. Another word for life with God is a “I-can’t-but-He-can” life. In verse 3 the psalmist celebrates the divine gift of a child: “Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” Children are not born through human effort but through God’s supernatural work. What do we do to get children? Very little. Somehow we participate in this mysterious process, but it is God who makes these children fearfully and wonderfully made who walk and talk and grow. We can’t even add a single moment to their life. But God can! God is in charge. God is at work. So we join him in his work. “I can’t, but He can, so I will.” That is the key message of Psalm 127.
Luke tells us a story about how Jesus comes to Peter’s life. Jesus said to Peter, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Now let’s listen to Peter’s own words: “Master, we worked hard all night but caught nothing. But if you say so, I will let down the nets” (Lk 5:5). Since then, his life was never the same. I can’t, but He can, so I will. When Jesus comes at the center, our work is redeemed – from anxious toil to life-giving, purpose-driven, God-glorifying work. For me personally, as a pastor, I think about the sermon all the time. There were times when my sermon preparation was really anxious toil. At that time, I was preaching at early morning services at two places – my seminary and my church – once a week. But I was not enjoying it. I studied hard, and meditated on the passage day and night. So I got my sermon done, but achieved nothing – no power, no life, no transformation. I got stressed, discouraged. I was considering quitting my preaching ministry. Then one afternoon, while taking a walk on campus, Joyce and I met another seminarian Korean couple. The wife said to me, “Last night God appeared to my dream. He wanted me to tell you this: “Though you are weak and little, you are my chosen vessel, my strong warrior.”” Even after that, nothing changed. God didn’t give me any new spiritual gift. But one thing changed. My perspective. God changed my attitude from “I can’t” to “Of course, I can’t, but He can, so I will.”
Rhythms of Grace
We all have the tendency to take charge with our own plans, and get discouraged and burnt out. Then, what is the remedy for this “I-am-in-charge” life? The psalmist gives us an answer in verse 2: “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved.” God’s remedy is rest. Sabbath. Sabbath means quit. Stop. Take a break. In the Book of Genesis we find the origin of sabbath. In particular, in Genesis 1 we find the following phrase several times, “there was evening, and there was morning, one day.” The genesis way of understanding “day” is different from ours. For God, evening is the beginning of the day. We go to sleep, and God begins his work. While we are sleeping, God makes everything ready for us. When morning comes, we wake, respond, participate in the work God initiated. We rest, then we work by grace. It’s the rhythm of grace. We receive the day as God’s gift.
This daily rhythm of grace and blessing extends to the weekly rhythm. God created the world in six days, and rested on the 7th day. God worked and rested. But as for Adam, when he was made on the 6th day, he rested first, then he worked. It is the rhythm of grace. When we rest and set aside time first to be with God daily and weekly, we can see our life in perspective, and we can see our work in the larger context of God’s work. In his book Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald tells us the story of William Wilberforce as an example. William Wilberforce was a Christian and English politician in the 19th century. It took him almost twenty years to pass the anti-slavery measure. There was a time when Wilberforce almost broke down because of his ambition to gain the appointment as a cabinet post. In his journal he admitted that he had risings of ambition, and it was crippling his soul. But Sunday brought the cure. Wilberforce wrote in this way: “Blessed be to God for the day of rest and religious occupation wherein earthly things assume their true size. Ambition is stunted.” Because he rested on sabbath day, he was able to keep all of life in proper perspective and to remain free of burnout and breakdown. More than we keep sabbath, sabbath keeps us.
On our pilgrim journey we face demands, pressures, worries, and dangers that could easily wear us down. One of the greatest dangers is the “I can do it myself” syndrome, “I am in charge” mindset. But Psalm 127 teaches us to see life in perspective, that we may be more God-centered and live wisely and well. May the Lord give us a heart of wisdom, saying “Of course I can’t, but He can, so I will.” Amen.
Tolstoy invites us to pause and think about big questions of life: “What’s the most important in life?” “What do I live (work) for?” “Where am I going?” Psalm 127 is called a wisdom psalm. In this psalm the psalmist teaches us to number our days aright, that we may be more God-centered in our everyday lives.
Life without God: “I Can”
Psalm 127 consists of two segments. The theme of the first is a warning about “life without God” (vv. 1-2). Another word for life without God is a “I-am-in-charge” life. In 2009, Morgan Freeman played the leading role as South African President Nelson Mandela in the movie “Invictus,” meaning unconquerable or undefeated in Latin. The movie begins and ends with Freeman reciting the 19th century poem, “Invictus.” Its ending goes like this: “I am the master of my fate / I am the captain of my soul.” Many people in our culture live by this belief. But the psalmist teaches us that this is not true for the people of God.
In Psalm 127:1-2 the psalmist repeats Hebrew word shaw’, meaning “in vain” three times. Shaw’ means nothing or nothingness. In this case the house gets built but achieves nothing, has no intrinsic worth. We work hard, but accomplish nothing. We are busy with many things, but arrive nowhere. All our human effort such as building a house, guarding a city, and daily work eventually becomes anxious toil unless God is at the center. Probably Many of us remember the story of the Tower of Babel. People migrated from the east were gathered and began to work together for a great cause – building a great city for everyone. They said to each other, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves” (Gen 11:4). It was a great work project, possibly beneficial for many. But the problem is their work, their effort, their plan is at the center, and God is at the periphery. So the result? With much effort, yet nothing accomplished. At first, the tower seemed to get taller, higher, built, but eventually achieved nothing. Everyone was confused, scattered. Anxious toil.
The Hebrew word for sin is hata, which means to “miss the target.” The nature of sin is to take good things and twist them, so that they miss the target, the target of God. The story of Martha is a good example. Martha welcomed Jesus into her home. It was a great thing. But she was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. With her own plans, thinking that she had to feed Jesus and his disciples, and entertain them, Martha got anxious, worried, angry. She started with good intentions, but missed the target, the purpose, God. Anxious toil. Like Martha, how many times are we tempted to charge ahead with our own plans, and when things don’t go as planned, we get discouraged and angry?
Life with God: “I Can’t, But He Can”
In the second part (vv. 3-5) the psalmist shows the example of what “life with God” looks like. Another word for life with God is a “I-can’t-but-He-can” life. In verse 3 the psalmist celebrates the divine gift of a child: “Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” Children are not born through human effort but through God’s supernatural work. What do we do to get children? Very little. Somehow we participate in this mysterious process, but it is God who makes these children fearfully and wonderfully made who walk and talk and grow. We can’t even add a single moment to their life. But God can! God is in charge. God is at work. So we join him in his work. “I can’t, but He can, so I will.” That is the key message of Psalm 127.
Luke tells us a story about how Jesus comes to Peter’s life. Jesus said to Peter, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Now let’s listen to Peter’s own words: “Master, we worked hard all night but caught nothing. But if you say so, I will let down the nets” (Lk 5:5). Since then, his life was never the same. I can’t, but He can, so I will. When Jesus comes at the center, our work is redeemed – from anxious toil to life-giving, purpose-driven, God-glorifying work. For me personally, as a pastor, I think about the sermon all the time. There were times when my sermon preparation was really anxious toil. At that time, I was preaching at early morning services at two places – my seminary and my church – once a week. But I was not enjoying it. I studied hard, and meditated on the passage day and night. So I got my sermon done, but achieved nothing – no power, no life, no transformation. I got stressed, discouraged. I was considering quitting my preaching ministry. Then one afternoon, while taking a walk on campus, Joyce and I met another seminarian Korean couple. The wife said to me, “Last night God appeared to my dream. He wanted me to tell you this: “Though you are weak and little, you are my chosen vessel, my strong warrior.”” Even after that, nothing changed. God didn’t give me any new spiritual gift. But one thing changed. My perspective. God changed my attitude from “I can’t” to “Of course, I can’t, but He can, so I will.”
Rhythms of Grace
We all have the tendency to take charge with our own plans, and get discouraged and burnt out. Then, what is the remedy for this “I-am-in-charge” life? The psalmist gives us an answer in verse 2: “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved.” God’s remedy is rest. Sabbath. Sabbath means quit. Stop. Take a break. In the Book of Genesis we find the origin of sabbath. In particular, in Genesis 1 we find the following phrase several times, “there was evening, and there was morning, one day.” The genesis way of understanding “day” is different from ours. For God, evening is the beginning of the day. We go to sleep, and God begins his work. While we are sleeping, God makes everything ready for us. When morning comes, we wake, respond, participate in the work God initiated. We rest, then we work by grace. It’s the rhythm of grace. We receive the day as God’s gift.
This daily rhythm of grace and blessing extends to the weekly rhythm. God created the world in six days, and rested on the 7th day. God worked and rested. But as for Adam, when he was made on the 6th day, he rested first, then he worked. It is the rhythm of grace. When we rest and set aside time first to be with God daily and weekly, we can see our life in perspective, and we can see our work in the larger context of God’s work. In his book Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald tells us the story of William Wilberforce as an example. William Wilberforce was a Christian and English politician in the 19th century. It took him almost twenty years to pass the anti-slavery measure. There was a time when Wilberforce almost broke down because of his ambition to gain the appointment as a cabinet post. In his journal he admitted that he had risings of ambition, and it was crippling his soul. But Sunday brought the cure. Wilberforce wrote in this way: “Blessed be to God for the day of rest and religious occupation wherein earthly things assume their true size. Ambition is stunted.” Because he rested on sabbath day, he was able to keep all of life in proper perspective and to remain free of burnout and breakdown. More than we keep sabbath, sabbath keeps us.
On our pilgrim journey we face demands, pressures, worries, and dangers that could easily wear us down. One of the greatest dangers is the “I can do it myself” syndrome, “I am in charge” mindset. But Psalm 127 teaches us to see life in perspective, that we may be more God-centered and live wisely and well. May the Lord give us a heart of wisdom, saying “Of course I can’t, but He can, so I will.” Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment