Readings for today: 1 Kings 6-7, Luke 23:26-43
Unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor, labor in vain. Unless the Lord establishes our steps, we will stumble and fall. Unless the Lord has commissioned our work, it will fall apart. Unless the Lord is with us, our ways can never be pure.
I think about this Psalm each year when I hit these chapters describing the ambitious building projects Solomon undertook. He spends seven years building the Temple of God. The glorious building that would become the beating heart of Israel for generations. Then he spends thirteen years building his own house which includes these different halls where he will conduct the business of the nation. The people labor for twenty long years to bring Solomon’s vision to pass. It is a mighty work. It is a hard work. On some level it is the Lord’s work. It would never have come to pass without the Lord’s resources and the Lord’s gifts and the Lord’s blessing.
Reading this passage always causes me to wonder…what work is God doing in my life? What “house” has He called my to build? I distinctly remember a period of time in my own life where I made my own plans. I tried to build my own house without the Lord’s blessing. I remember my mentor, Steve Hayner, telling me, “Doug, I want you to remember something as you go to Wisconsin. You are not going to plant a church. You are going to get involved in what God is doing. Whatever church comes out of it will simply be a byproduct of you joining the Lord in His work in your city. Don’t ever forget this!” Unfortunately, that’s exactly what I did. Steve was trying to keep me from making a massive mistake. He was trying to keep me from putting the cart before the horse. From getting out in front of God. But in my arrogance and pride, I thought I had it figured out. My way was pure in my eyes. How could it get any more pure than planting a church for Jesus? My heart had already put together a plan but I failed to grasp that it would be the Lord who would establish my steps. And when it came time for the Lord to weigh my spirit, I was found wanting.
It is so easy for us to fall into this trap. To “assume” because we are doing God’s work. Because we are engaged in ministry. Because we are taking care of our families. Because we are having success. Because everything we touch turns to gold that somehow God must be pleased. So we keep making plans. We keep dreaming dreams. We keep doing our thing and we forget all about God. We rarely consult Him. We rarely ask Him what He thinks. We rarely bring our plans before the Lord in prayer. Except when things go wrong, of course! When we run into barriers. Roadblocks. Failure. Then we cry out to God. What happened? Why me? What went wrong.
There’s a wonderful spiritual practice called the daily examen. It is the simple practice of bringing the details of our day before the Lord morning and night. Each morning when we wake up, we take our schedule of activities to God in prayer. We pay close attention to our hearts as we do. What makes us anxious today? What brings us peace? What are we excited about? What causes us fear? As we bring those things to God, we ask Him to bring consolation. To lead and guide us. To give us wisdom. And then at the end of each day, we repeat the exercise as we look back. What went well? What was hard? Where did we sense God’s abiding presence? Where did He feel absent? What did we learn? It doesn’t take that long and yet it can make a huge difference in helping us understand the difference between asking God for His plan or asking God to bless our plan for our lives.
Readings for tomorrow: 1 Kings 8-9, Luke 23:44-56