I once heard John Piper say something like, “God is doing 10,000 things in your life right now, and you’re probably aware of three.”
Solomon clearly believed the same thing. In Psalm 128, he outlined some big things God is always doing in our lives. When we’re aware of what God’s doing, we can partner with him. When we partner with him, life gets a whole lot easier and a whole lot better.
1. God is building.
Solomon says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” (Psalm 128:1). Something fundamental to understand about God is that he’s a builder. He’s active. That’s clear from the very first pages of Scripture.
The first verse of Genesis doesn’t say, “In the beginning, God sat on his throne in heaven, and thought wondrous thoughts filled with beauty and love.” It says he built. He created the heavens and the earth. God is always building.
And Solomon has an illustration of the kinds of incredible things God builds: “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward” (Psalm 128:3). He’s saying that when you want to have a kid, you can’t go down to the hardware store and just pick up some kid-parts to take home and put together in your carport. “No! I forgot to pick up ears! Now I’ve gotta go all the way back.”
The most incredible thing we could ever build is another human, and Solomon’s point is that we can’t do it. We can’t even get Siri to understand us when we talk. We can do some things that lead to a child, and we can go to doctors to help facilitate a child, but we can’t build a child. Only God can.
He’s always building. So if you want to build a good life, with a good career, and a good marriage, and good kids, and good friends, and a good legacy, God says, “Great! When do you want me to start building?”
If you already have all those things, God says, “Great! You understand that you didn’t get all that for yourself, right? I gave all those things to you, and every day I’ll decide if it’s still a good thing for you to keep all those things.
That’s why Solomon says, “Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Psalm 128:1). Which leads to the second big thing God is always doing:
2. God is protecting.
God is the only one who can keep anything truly safe. Which doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be diligent to protect what God’s given us. We should get insurance policies, and good locks for our doors, and good carseats for our kids. That’s all necessary! But we also need to understand that locks fail, and carseats fail, and insurance companies fail. Nobody can watch over what the Lord’s given us, except the Lord.
That’s why Solomon says, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil, for God gives to his beloved sleep” (Psalm 128:2). You could understand that to mean, “God gives to his beloved in his sleep.” God is always building and protecting and giving, so you can stop being anxious and staying up late because even when you’re sleeping (and not working), God’s still blessing!
When you’re asleep, you’re in the most weak and vulnerable and unproductive state possible, but God’s blessing you the whole time. That’s the third big thing God is always doing:
3. God is blessing.
He blesses you while you’re awake, and he blesses you while you’re asleep. In fact, I think what Solomon’s really saying here is that God does more for you while you’re asleep than you can ever do for yourself while you’re awake!
I’ve been trying to lose a few pounds I put on this summer, and I found out this week that you only burn about 100 calories when you run a mile. How depressing is that? But do you know how many calories you burn when you sleep 8 hours? About 500! God is always blessing us, asleep or awake.
That was Paul’s point when he wrote to the Ephesians: “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2: 8-9). The greatest thing we could ever have is salvation, and God gave this to us 2,000 years before we were even born. And in the very next verse, he reveals the implications of that fact: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10).
God builds us, saves us, protects us, and blesses us so we can be a blessing to others through the good works he’s laid out for us.
So what does God want to build through you? What does he want to protect through you? Who does he want to bless through you?