8. Resting

[Karen11]

On 7/19/2020 at 12:28 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Day 8 Meditation (Psalm 127). Why is work without trust inadequate? Why is trust without work an illusion? How can we achieve the kind of balance that affords us good rest? Why do you think the psalmist stresses that children are both a “heritage” and a “reward”?

Work would be in vain, anything with out God involved is like working with sand, it will fall right through your hands. To welcome God into your family and lives in everything we do gives us rest. Children will carry on what their parents taught them to their children, having your children's love and to love them is so unbelievably precious, what a gift from God.

[Irmela]

Day 8 Meditation (Psalm 127).

Why is work without trust inadequate?

Why is trust without work an illusion?

How can we achieve the kind of balance that affords us good rest?

Why do you think the psalmist stresses that children are both a "heritage" and a "reward"?

To trust means to rely on.  You can rely on nothing and no one but Christ, for something to be successfully done.  .  So any work you do, you need to place your trust in the Lord to help you to do it correctly etc.  It is no good only trusting Him, you need to fulfill your part also and allow Him to use your mind, hands, feet etc., to accomplish the work.  So trusting and working is necessary.

Use God's work tactic that He has assigned to us in Scripture.   Working or labouring 6 days and resting on the 7th.  

A reward would be like a gift.  So children are seen to be a gift for a so called married couple.  A reward for the fact that they love each other.  A heritage or benefit would be that the parents would benefit in some way or another that they have the children.  Be it with character building, or helping them in some way, be it in old age or whatever.  

[Krissi]

 

Another set of thought-making questions!

Most of us know how to work hard, to set goals and subgoals and then achieve them. What we don’t know, or at least don’t balance well, is the trust v. work ratio. Thank you for helping me think of work as balanced by trust. I wish I had known this years ago.

Human effort is NOT vanity, however, because, on average, work reaps reward. When secular people work hard it shows – there’s a direct correlation between smart laboring and achievement. This applies to Christians as well. Yes, it is true that not all effort has the desired outcome but, still, most of the time effort “pays off.” Thus, the consequences of labor are not illusory – they are real. Our work actually creates stuff … ideas, houses, children, books, art, diagrams … whatever. These things don’t magically appear. We make them. We labor for them. Our work also creates the dull, unnoticed background that the more interesting stuff needs to stand out.

Work seems to be divided into that which is drudgery and that which gives satisfaction.

Perhaps the first take-away from this psalm is that the sorts of achievement that comes from endless grinding – in the end – are not ultimately satisfying. To be satisfying, the work in itself has to be satisfying. Perhaps this explains why there’s can be an emptiness to achievements that are “earned’ without submitting to God. It’s not working hard that’s at issue here, but the potential meaningfulness and pointedness of that work dedicated to God.

A second take-away from this psalm is related to the first, that meaningful work is done in alignment with His will. All work becomes drudgery unless directed by God, according to His will. His specific will. He will direct our labor which means we have to submit to what He tells us to do. Most of the time, at least in my life, He dictates His will through circumstances. This is a wordy way of saying that God calls us to do both specific and mundane. We must strive for our specific calling, both to know and do it.

A third take-away is that most work really is mundane and meaningless and there’s no reason to pretend it’s something it’s not, or to dignify it as part of His calling. Moments of meaningfulness puncture through years of mundane work. I think of all the dishes I’ve washed over the years, the wasted time that did nothing to further His kingdom.  Clean dishes have nothing to do with my calling (I hope). But they still must be done.

That’s the rub, isn’t it? Most of our work isn’t directed by God … it doesn’t further the kingdom … no one is brought to know Christ through it … and it’s not enjoyable or meaningful. It’s pure drudgery. It’s a burden. Our attitude toward it may make the hours go faster, but there’s nothing about monotonous, dull work that does anything but create a background on which the rare moments of His calling can be painted.

Drudgery is like gessoing a canvas – making a strong, white barrier on which the artist paints. The worthy part of the painting isn’t the gesso but the art itself – the artist gives art meaning, color, design, finesse and skill. But before he or she can paint, the canvas must be “sized” with gesso. In life-speak this means that preparatory work must be done. Only after years of preparation, In His slow time, will the artistic impulse on top of the gesso be known.

I’m almost childlike in my belief/trust that I’ll have enough which may come from having my needs always met. When I became a Christian, that trust in provision seamlessly transferred to God. But that was not all that transferred. I also handed to God my angst over living a meaningless, empty life. Even today, I desperately want to know His will … not just His “little wills” for the day, but the large and overarching calling that eludes me. I need more trust that He will make my labor and life “big”/meaningful … not mundane/meaningless.