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Photo by Fleur Treurniet on Unsplash
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"Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain."
Psalm 127:1
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain."
Psalm 127:1
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Our family as well as our Wycliffe partnerships and ministry are works in progress at this moment. Anxiety creeps in as I think of our humble little structure. It can look a bit vulnerable to my fearful eyes. All I can see are tasks going undone, time ticking out of control, preparations being overlooked. "I know you need to be the one to build it, Lord, but is it all even possible?"
A Timely Example
This week, because my Father knows me all too well, I received a reminder. In A Chance to Die, by Elisabeth Elliot, I was reminded that letting the Lord build your life is not unattainable. Amy Carmichael, the subject of the book, was a real person with real trials and great things building in her life. She had to be reminded and keep praying too, but, at the end of the day, God was proved faithful. God had built the house.
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"God had promised to supply all needs. On that word, not the sands of self-confidence, she built her house. Given the forces that battered her frailty she would have scorned any attempt to find explanation for her strength apart from the foundation on which it rested - a Rock that never budged. When the (metaphorical) rains descended and the floods came, the house stood (p258)."
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He Never Gives Up
Just as I begin to feel overwhelmed, and like our building is looking more like a tower of blocks, God sends this verse back to mind and urges me to pray. Because, yes, if we for a moment try to build our family or our Wycliffe ministry on our own, it will be a failure at best and a degradation to God's glory at worst. If we give it over, day in and day out, to God and His builder's hands, it will not for a moment be in vain! "Lord, help me to scorn anything but your strength and firm foundation."