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Helpless and Hopeful | Psalm 127 | Eric Ortlund · Chapel Talks

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The reading today is Psalm 127. Unless the Lord
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builds the house, those who build it labor in
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vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city,
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the watchman stays awake in vain. It's in vain
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that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating
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the bread of anxious toil. For he gives to his
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beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage
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from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward.
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Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the
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children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who
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fills his quiver with them. He shall not be put
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to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the
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gate. This is God's word. Friends, just in a
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couple of minutes we have here, I want Psalm
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127 to push us and position us in a slightly
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uncomfortable but very good way. By the end of
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the psalm, I want us all to be feeling very helpless
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and very hopeful all at the same time. And I'm
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trying to make two H words so it's easier to
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remember, but I am going to get them wrong. And
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at some point in the sermon, I'll say helpful
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and hopeless, which is not what that's not supposed
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to happen. Helpless and hopeful. That's what
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we're aiming toward. And that's what the psalm
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is trying to do. So if I get that wrong, please
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bear with me. You can see the helpless part of
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it right there in verse one. That's pretty stark.
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There is no idea of like human beings cooperating
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with God or something like that. It's you can
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work every day in your life, put in 80 -hour
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work weeks, have the best team and the best skills
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and the best strategies, and if God's not in
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it, you are running on the treadmill. It is a
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waste of time. You will accomplish nothing, nothing.
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And you know, friends, the images here, these
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would have been very concrete for ancient Israelites.
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At the very end of verse 1, the watchman stays
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awake in vain. I'm going to say this later in
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this talk, but the ancient Middle East was an
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aggressive, cruel, warlike culture. And a lot
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of Israel's history was then being surrounded
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by more powerful armies that were quite happy
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to invade and enslave them if they wanted to.
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And there was no international tribunal for war
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crimes or anything that Israel could appeal to.
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So the people who first heard this psalm, there
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would have been Israelites who had been up all
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night, no caffeine, no clocks, no phones. You
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don't know when the sun is going to rise. And
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you're scanning the murky shadows because if
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you fall asleep and Philistines are coming, your
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city could be burned to the ground, your kids
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enslaved, and so on. So this would not have been
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theoretical to ancient Israelites. And without
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messing around in the slightest, the psalm says,
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try as hard as you want. to save and preserve
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your own city, if God's not doing it, there's
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just nothing, nothing. So that's the helpless
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part of the psalm. What about that hopeful bit?
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Verse one on its own surely would make us feel
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helpless and hopeless at the same time, right?
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If you just had verse one on its own, it'd be
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easy to conclude. So God is just this vague,
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mysterious thing. He's holding all the trump
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cards. I can work really hard, but I can't secure
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any results. It's ultimately up to him. But who
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knows if he's on my side? He's just this vague,
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mysterious force out there. Maybe he's on my
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side. Maybe he isn't. If you just took verse
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1 out of context, yes? Yeah? You'd feel helpless
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and hopeless. Do you see how everything else
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in the psalm tilts us exactly in the opposite
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direction? Even in verse 2, it's in vain you
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rise up early and go late to rest, eating the
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bread of anxious toil. For he gives to his beloved.
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As opposed to, my theory about the psalm is that
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it's not until we've really looked at and faced
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into our own helplessness that we'll actually
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be able to rest in God and sleep. I think verse
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2 is describing someone who still is laboring
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under the illusion that if they work hard enough,
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they can secure the right results. And they're,
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you know, work weeks and they're so stressed
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out when they go. home at night that can't even
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sleep. And verse 2 is already pointing us to
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say, because verse 1 is true, you can work hard,
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go home at the end of the day, and just relax.
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You have to feel really—sleeping is vulnerable,
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right? You all know in the Psalms, sleep is a
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blessing, it's a gift from God. You really have
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to be able to relax and just let yourself go.
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We'll talk more about that later. Why is it that
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if verse 1 is true, then we can rest in verse
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2. What's the connection between those two thoughts?
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Why doesn't verse 1 push us to even more anxiety?
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Well, I think verse 3 explains the answer. And
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I'm going to need to ask you to bear with me,
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and especially the first -year Old Testament
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students are seriously going to require, I'm
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going to test your sanctification now, okay?
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The reason being, verse 3 is so much more than
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just babies are cute or something. You know Old
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Testament poetry loves to do part for whole?
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We'll talk about one thing to talk about many
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things at once. When it says children are a heritage
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from the Lord, that is so much more than babies
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are cute. Quick Old Testament history lesson.
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I know that there are expectant fathers and mothers
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and new fathers and mothers, so I don't want
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to trigger anyone. But tragically, in ancient
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Israel, verse 3 would have jumped off the page.
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Here's why. In ancient Israel, infant mortality
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rates were tragically high, easily above 50%.
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That means if you're an ancient Israelite, you're
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married, your wife is expecting, for your wife
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to get through the ordeal of birth and not die,
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and for the baby to get to their third or fourth
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birthday without getting sick or something, if
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that happens, you've beaten the odds. Literally.
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Literally. The odds were against that happening.
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Okay, second thing. Having big families was a
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life or death issue if you were an ancient Israelite.
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I'm trying to put myself in the first audience
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of this psalm, how they would have heard it.
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You needed big families in ancient Israel, and
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especially male babies, to go farm and to go
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fight. We all know courageous Ruth will go out
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in Ruth chapter 2 and farm, but that generally
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wasn't the done thing. It was generally men doing
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that. And big harvests are a life or death issue.
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If you don't get that, your family might starve.
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So you want to have lots of children and especially
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lots of male babies, both to work the fields.
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And so when the Philistines come, you've got
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someone to fight. So this is an existential issue
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in ancient Israel. Third thing, it's obvious.
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Ancient Israelites didn't know as much about
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how pregnancy happens as we do. And there are
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no infertility clinics. I almost said critics
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there first. Infertility critics. Makes less
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sense. In ancient Israel, a couple would have
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gotten married, they would have been doing the
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thing married couples normally do, and sometimes
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the woman gets pregnant and sometimes not. And
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they wouldn't have been able to tell why. They
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just would have been able, they could have seen,
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sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
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But if you're married and you can't have kids,
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there is nothing you can do about it. That means
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that in verse 3, children are a heritage from
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the Lord. God is saying, the thing that you most
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need for your survival, that you are the least
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in control of, I will give you. This is a lot
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more than just babies are cute and it's nice
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when you have a baby. Verse 3 is a way of saying
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God is looking at his people and saying the thing
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that you most need to survive, that you are the
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least in control of, I will give you. That's
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why in verse 2 people can sleep, they can rest.
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And that's why verse 1 is calculated not to make
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us doubt God, but to be in a position of reality
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before him. that we are entirely helpless before
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him, but he promises the things that we most
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need, that we are the least in control of, he
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will give us. It's part for whole. In other words,
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for ancient Israelites, when they would read
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verse 3, they would have said, well, if children
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are a heritage from the Lord, then of course
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God is going to build the house and guard the
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city in verse 1. Of course that's included, yes?
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Does anyone feel so far? What week is it? Week
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5? Week 27? I can't even... When you get that...
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In vain you rise up early, eating the bread of
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anxious toil. Does that land for anyone? Yes.
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Trying to remember Greek principal parts and
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whatnot. Am I the only faculty member who has
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that lecture that, you know, I just don't feel
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as strong with? I'm not exactly looking forward
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to. Am I the only? Oh, clearly I'm the only person
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on faculty who experiences that, right? Look
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at how Psalm 127 is positioning us. If we labor
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under the illusion that we can secure results,
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we're kind of cooperating with God, it's going
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to be stressful, stressful work and sleepless
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nights. If we lean into and just face into it's
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in God's hands, then you could go to work with
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a light heart, work really hard, and go home
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and forget about it. Because you know in your
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helplessness, God is going to give you the thing
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you most need that you're in the least control
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of. So you can rest. The image that comes to
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mind, this isn't an image in this psalm. A couple
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of years ago, I was eating with a fellowship
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group family. They had a one -year -old daughter,
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and I was holding her, and we're eating, and
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she's kind of looking around. And then she fell
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asleep in my arms. It's the most beautiful feeling
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when a one -year -old falls asleep. She just
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kind of relaxed, and her body just kind of went
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limp, and she's doing that very gentle breathing.
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Oh, so nice. Can I ask everyone just to lean
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into verse 1 and to say, you all are working
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really hard now. And if God's not in it, nothing's
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going to come of it. It's useless. You are wasting
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your time. But if God will do verse 3, he's going
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to take care of everything. And to let yourself
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just sort of relax and lean into the embrace
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of your heavenly father. And when you need to,
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go to sleep. Whenever I think of this, you guys
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want to hear a story about my son? It's only
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tangentially relevant. Do you? Okay, okay. When
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my son was like one year, first 12 months, He's
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very, very young, and he just cuddles really
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nicely. And, like, I'd rock him, and he'd sleep,
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and it just felt really close to him. It was
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really nice. He got to be about one year old.
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He's grown more into himself, and he's running
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around more and wanting to wrestle. And he wouldn't
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sit and cuddle with me, and it frustrated me.
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And one night, I've got him on my lap, and he
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just won't sit still, and he's crawling. I'm
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just like, will you hold still and let me love
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you, please? Now, there was a dairy farm across
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the road from where we lived. And my wife took
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my daughter and son there to go see the cows.
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And it was this big building with all these cows
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in it. And they were all mooing really loudly.
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And it was this big echoey sound. So when my
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son was about one year old, cows were monsters
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for him. They were not cute animals. So I'm sitting
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with my son on my lap and he just won't sit still.
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So I have the bright idea of saying, oh, Will,
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do you hear that? And he kind of stops and goes,
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what? And I said, I think there's a cow outside.
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And my expectation was he'll go, oh, okay, cuddle
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with that. Guess what he did and said? He hears
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that and he goes, and starts bawling. And I'm
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sitting there thinking I'm the worst father in
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the history of fathering. I'm traumatizing my
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son just to try to get him to cuddle and relax
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with me. And right away, I'm like, there's no
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cow. There's no cow went away. The cow's very
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far away. Eventually he calmed down. I just felt
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terrible. Oh my goodness. Can I ask everyone
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to lean into your helplessness? And friends,
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because it's exactly that position where you
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will be most able to relax. we naturally tend
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to associate being able to relax and be confident
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about life with, I know I can secure these results.
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Psalm 127 is breaking those and severing those
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and saying, if God's not in it, there's just
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nothing. But God will be in it. And so you can
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both work hard and relax. Friends, if anyone
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were to take Psalm 127 and apply it in the New
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Testament to a couple wanting to start a family
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and build a home, I think that would be absolutely
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fine. Absolutely fine. But in the Old Covenant,
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there's an external, literal, financial, agricultural
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dimension. It's a literal house and a literal
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city. In the New Covenant, what's external and
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literal becomes spiritual. The priesthood of
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all believers offering spiritual sacrifices and
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spiritual warfare and so on. Am I going far wrong
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from the text if I look at verse 1, and the house
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and the city, and then the birth in verse 3?
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All those show up in the New Testament. Am I
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going far wrong, especially speaking to future
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gospel ministers, to say you are going to be
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laboring in God's house, that spiritual temple,
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and God appoints certain means by which his people
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grow. But if God the Spirit is not at work, nothing
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will happen. You can preach fervently and pray
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fervently and evangelize and counsel wisely.
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If God's not at it, nothing. And with regard
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to verse 3, with that birth, we all know Nicodemus
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was thinking a bit too literally when Jesus talked
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about the new birth. and you will interact with
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Christians. And your ability to create that new
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birth within them is as mysterious and as impossible
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as for ancient Israelites. You know what I mean?
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And yet God will underwrite that. He will take
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care of that. In and through your ministry, in
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your helplessness, these supernatural miracles
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are going to be happening where people are going
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to be growing in Christ, people are going to
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get converted, marriages are going to be saved,
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and it's not you doing it. Verse 1 is meant to
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deliver us into... Actually trusting God, resting
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in him, relaxing and being able to sleep. And
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friends, briefly as we close verses 4 and 5,
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he will not be put to shame when he speaks with
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his enemies in the gate. Just within Psalm 127,
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the blessing of children and the blessing of
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God in your life that you can't control but that
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he gives you anyway, that will give you a kind
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of moral validity and legitimacy that you wouldn't
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have otherwise. And friends, if we are applying
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to Psalm 127 in a New Covenant context, if you're
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a gospel minister, if you go into a church and
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you play a game with the people you essentially
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agree will just turn this into a game, no one
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will criticize you. If you actually preach New
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Testament Christianity, people will start to
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open up and flourish, but other people will resist
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you. I've seen so many examples from church history
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and today where the gospel is preached and there's
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resistance. And as a gospel minister, if you
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lean into your helplessness and God gives you
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those miracles, the people who don't like your
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ministry, who are your enemies, they won't be
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able to say anything because they can see God
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at work. I hope it's okay for me to say this.
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A couple of decades ago, my father was ministering
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in the American South in Georgia, a very lovely
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part of the country. I always loved visiting
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him there, interacting with people. Really a
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very charming part of the country, but there
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is a very strong... You sit up straight and keep
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your nose clean and say, yes, sir, yes, ma 'am.
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You do what you're told and you say thank you.
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Like a lot of pressure. Like to keep up appearances.
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And frequently at least one kid in a family would
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just give up and rebel and be a black sheep.
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And my father was there preaching the gospel,
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and about two -thirds of the church are opening
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up and warming up and smiling and feeling burdens
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lifted. And about a third of the church saw my
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father as a threat to the good order and discipline
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of the church. And not entirely wrongly. They
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weren't completely wrong. My mother told me that
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a man said to my father in that church, I don't
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like what you're doing, but you have four kids
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and they're all following the Lord, so I can't
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really say that much. I hope it's okay if I say
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that. I hope that's all right. That's me trying
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to do justice to the whole psalm. If we apply
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it in spiritual categories, and if the thing
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that you most need in your ministry that you're
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least in control of, and God does that, there
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will be resistance. Some people will make you
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their enemies, but they won't be able to say
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anything because they see God at work. Can I
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ask everyone to lean into this to our helplessness
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and our deep hopefulness before God? Let's pause
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for a moment.