Unless the Lord Build the House
The best of plans fail when God is not taken into account. I’m convinced that the psalmist was right when he said, “Unless the Lord builds the house those who build it labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1).
Remember the building project in ancient Shinar.
Man said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves . . .” (Genesis 11:4).
And God said, “Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech” Genesis 11:7).
Without God the whole project turned into confusion. Therefore its name was called Babel.
Over two hundred years ago Benjamin Franklin made a speech to the framers of the Constitution for the United States. Among other things he said: “In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the Divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind of providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need his assistance? I have lived for a long time (81 years); and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall proceed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel: we shall be divided by our little, partial, local interest; our prospects will be confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a by-word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, or conquest. I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers, imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business; and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.” (Speech in Convention for forming a Constitution for the United States, 1787)
I wonder what old Ben would have thought about removing prayer from our schools, or the efforts to take away the words “under God” and “in God we trust”?
More serious than that, I wonder what God thinks when he sees our arrogance in thinking that we can build a perfectly good house without his help.
John Gipson
Living: Principles on Living
the Christian Life (pp. 425-26)
The writings of John Gipson address, in an elegantly terse manner, issues that are biblical, theological, philosophical, and intersecting, from time-to-time, with apologetics. His writing is extremely practical and polished. Though penned over 30 years ago, the above article is as relevant to today as when first written. It is one of 300 articles included in the commemorative volume, Living: Principles on Living the Christian Life—A 50 year Collection of Articles, published in 2019 by the Jenkins Institute.