Words of wisdom that have stood the test of time: “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it.” (Ps. 127:1)
It was God who designed and “built” the first home that first week of the world, forming the man out of the dust of the ground and fashioning the woman out of the man; then bringing them together with the injunction, “Be fruitful and multiply.” He assigned each of them specific roles. Their first sons, Cain and Abel, with them, became the fountain-head of the human family, and the institution of “the home” was begun. It was not long before the master home builder was by-passed, and fallen mankind began building homes apart from His master plan. Their labor was soon enough proven to be “in vain,” and the universal flood (Genesis 7-9) was an early, catastrophic picture of what happens when men attempt to build their “houses, homes” apart from the wisdom and Word of God. Many flawed attempts have followed.
Family worship is a foundation upon which stable homes are structured. Studies have revealed that, in households where both parents attend church with their children, 72% of the children remain faithful to the church when they are adults. If only Dad attends regularly, 55% remain steadfast; if only Mom does, the percentage drops to a dismal 15%. If neither Mom nor Dad attend church, only 6% of the offspring will do so when they become adults. God created the home, and without His presence in the home, the foundation is subject to spiritual decay and probably destruction.
Moody Press, at about the turn of the third millennium, published a book by Evangelist Sammy Tippet, America at the Crossroads of Ruin and Revival. The Southern Baptist evangelist enumerated several “culture killers of the family,” stating that most of them had their roots in the 1960’s. Here was his insightful analysis: (1) Institutionalization of selfishness—boomers spoiled by unparalleled prosperity; (2) Success syndrome, with less time for family; (3) The “everyone’s doing it” mantra, applied to marriages to justify divorce as not being “that bad,” with living together apart from marriage considered a viable option; (4) Psychological and emotional baggage brought into the marriage, such as sexual impurities and diseases; (5) Pornography; (6) American mobility and (7) Television.
The great opera singer Ernestine Schuman-Heink (1861-1936) described what it takes to build a secure home: “A roof to keep out the rain; four walls to keep out the winds. Floors to keep out the cold. Yes, but home is more than that. It is the laugh of a baby, the song of a mother, the strength of a father. Warmth of loving hearts, lights from happy eyes, kindness, loyalty, comradeship. Home is the first school and the first church for young ones, where they learn what is right, what is good, and what is kind. Where they go for comfort when they are hurt or sick. Where joy is shared and sorrow eased. Where fathers and mothers are respected and loved. Where children are wanted. Where the simplest of food is good enough for kings because it is earned. Where money is not so important as loving kindness. Where even the teakettle sings from happiness. That is home. God bless it.”
But those blessed homes are becoming increasingly hard to find. According to data gathered from the 2000 U.S. census, for the first time in our nation’s history, the number of households made up of a married couple and their children fell below 25%. A number of factors were cited: “The number of both men and women who have delayed getting married and having children; the escalating number of single-parent homes, and the increasing number of unmarried couples who were cohabiting.”
Someone summed it up well: “To our forefathers, faith was an experience; to our fathers, faith was an inheritance; to us, faith was a convenience; to our children faith is a nuisance.”
A young serviceman and his family were living in a hotel near the military base where he was temporarily assigned. One day his little girl was playing house in the lobby when a lady asked solicitously, “Isn’t it too bad you don’t have a home?” “Oh, we do,” the child answered, “We just don’t have a house to put it in!”
It is one thing to have a house; it’s another thing to have a home. Once again, it would do us well to meditate on and to contemplate the truth of our text: “Except the Lord build the house (home), they labor in vain that build it.” (Ps.127:1)
Who’s your builder?
“It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” Psalm 127:2
YOU and GOD 