Unless the Lord builds, VANITY

I like to put my thoughts in blog and this is probably another entry of that kind. It sounds depressing, but somehow I'd like to retain those thoughts to remind me about what's really important ...

Last night, I was doing some thinking ... As usual, I took my guitar, sit on the couch outside, play softly and start thinking ... I was thinking about many things .... My family, my friends, my church, my work, my efforts, my future, my plan, my home, my bible study, my study, and so on. I was thinking and thinking and thinking, while I held my guitar and playing it anyway I felt like playin .... It was so quiet outside .. I could hear water dripping from the toilet but that was it .... so peaceful, so comforting, and so quiet ... This was around 3 am in the morning ... so you can imagine what it is like ....

While in that situation, I was reminded about one verse:

Psalm/Mzm 127:1
Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.

Jikalau bukan TUHAN yang membangun rumah, sia-sialah usaha orang yang membangunnya;
jikalau bukan TUHAN yang mengawal kota, sia-sialah pengawal berjaga-jaga.

"That is just so TRUE" ... in my heart I said ...

I've experienced many things which unless the Lord builds, it is in vain ... But I was thinking again, surely men/women has done great things on earth ... great leaders like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa who is a champion of human rights, Napoleon who conquered Europe ....

So what does it mean then? Should I wait or should I do something? Will YOU build if I do not build?

The more I ponder into these questions, I was reminded of ecclesiastes series that we have done at Pemuda..Yes, the verse is so true that unless the Lord builds, open up a way, no men can fight against it .. This is done so that men/women may revere God who is the creator of all things ... This does not mean that we should do nothing ... Men/Women should build but at the same time we should acknowledge that it is because of the Lord's help that we can build it ... All glory in the end goes back to HIM ....

I was also reminded of David, king of israel ... I am just amazed how in his early life, he is described as a man after God's own heart ... He always asked God whether he should do something or not .... He acknowledged the Lord in all his ways and trusted the Lord ... and this is maybe where we are lacking today .... We might think that we have great programs/plans in mind, busy with "good" things in life, running 3 bible studies, active in ministry, doing higher education, work hard, doing business, but we fail to realise that unless the Lord builds, everything is meaningless ....

So whatever things that we have in our minds, let us acknowledge that unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain.