“Unless The Lord Build The House …”

If the Children of Israel were to have a King, God wanted to ensure that the King would stay devoted to God. So, He put some requirements on them. God placed conditions, or guidelines that would remind the King that His devotion belongs to the one true God, and only God could ensure his reign.

14 “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ 15 you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ 17 And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

18 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel. - Deuteronomy 17:14-20 ESV

To begin with, Kings were to have a personal set of the Scriptures. It wasn’t enough to rely on the reading of scripture by priests. And they had to read the scriptures daily. They were also not to collect horses or many wives. I can understand the ‘many wives’ instruction. A smart man would know that one wife is more than enough. But what does God have against horses?

God’s concern for how we govern our lives is that we don’t fall into the trap of thinking as the world thinks. For a worldly King, horses made a lot of sense. Horses pull chariots, chariots and horses meant a strong army. Likewise, it would be reasonable for a King to take the daughters of neighbouring Kings as wives. The hope being that the neighbouring King would ally if other nations became a threat. 

 All good common sense don’t you think? Except God knows that Covenant nations, families and people rise and fall on the strength of their relationship with Him. And the strength of that relationship depends on our affections and willingness to trust God.

 In one sense, we are all the Lord of our own lives. God will not override our own will. If we determine to do what we want, our way, he will allow us. Daily we need to learn to surrender our plans, our purposes and our strategies to THE Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The question we need to ask ourselves is, who can we best trust to govern our lives- the ‘lord’ Me, or the Lord Jesus Christ.

 In truth, God:

 1. Knows what’s best.

 2. Wants what’s best.

 3. Is best at delivering the best.

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. - Psalm 127:1-2 (ESV) 

Psalm 127 is a psalm of ascent by Solomon: the only Psalm of ascent attribute to Solomon. It was to remind the Jews as they went to the Temple of the reasons why they spent so much time honouring God. Psalm 127 told them to put God first, and He will honour them. It’s a shame that Solomon didn’t pay heed to his own Psalm. He started off his spiritual walk trusting God, but as he became more and more self-reliant, he turned away from the Scriptures. He started collecting horses and wives. God tolerated this for a time, but as the years went on, Solomon’s heart drifted from God. 

My Grandparents on both sides were in the Salvation Army. I recall hearing stories of how new converts who had been dramatically saved from lives of alcoholism and destitution. They would go on to raise families who were entirely devoted to the things of God. By the time the third generation came around, the things of God had lost much of their value. The Grandchildren often took for granted the goodness of God. It was not uncommon for the third generation to fall away.

Eli, the Old Testament priest, suffered a similar fate. He didn’t raise his children to value the things of God. They didn’t value the House of God. They held in low esteem the offerings. They saw God’s Temple and the sacrifices as being expedient and a utility to serve their lifestyle. Eventually, Eli’s children fell away from the faith. They probably believed in God but, tragically, they held the knowledge of Him as inconsequential. As a result, the blessing of God was lifted from their family.

‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honour Me I will honour, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. - 1 Samuel 2:30 ESV

Jesus laid out a golden rule for ensuring the happiness and fulfilment for which we all long, and that we want for our families.

Do not seek (crave and strive after) what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. - Luke 12: 29-30 ESV

Notice that the things Jesus promised us, were the very things the gentiles (nations) craved after. God has not called us to a life of lack, He knows what’s best, He wants what’s best, and He’s best at delivering the best!

As parents raising children in what is virtually a post-Christian society, we were faced with many decisions which, at the time, we felt were tough. Sunday mornings became a battle-ground for competing priorities. It seemed like every second birthday party, awards presentation or kids event was scheduled for Sunday mornings.

We soon realised that we had to make a stand. If we neglected Church (which the scriptures told us not to do- Heb 10:25), we would be teaching our children that the world’s priorities are more important than God’s priorities. Worse, we would be hypocritical, because we would be saying one thing and doing something else.

As a family, we sat down and had a conversation. It went like this: “We are Christians, we believe that God’s ways are best. That’s who we are, as a family. That’s one reason why you have a Mum and a Dad that love you, and many of your friends don’t. That’s why we have love, joy and a purpose in life. So, Mum and Dad have decided that we will always go to Church as a family. If you have a friend’s birthday party on a Sunday morning, we will buy a great present and take you around after Church…” and so on.

 We half expected push back from the children, but they were fine. They respected who we were as a family.

 Years later, when I was at Bible College, we kept the deal we made. I missed out on prime paid work to go to Church with our family. But you know what, ‘God honours those who honour him’. I was amongst the highest-paid employee, in spite of missing out on the best hours for sales commission. 

And now, decades later, all our children are saved, happy and serving God, in Church! We’re not proud of that, we’re thankful. 

God knows what’s best, wants what’s best and is best at delivering the best!