Psa 127:1 A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Psalm 127 has this message: Everything is dependent on God’s blessings, whether it be: (1)  Building a house (v.1a). (2)  Protecting a city (v.1b). (3)  Making a living (v.2). (4)  Raising a family (v.3-5). The Psalmist is saying: All human efforts are in vain unless they have God’s blessing. A man may put in all the effort he could but ultimately, the outcome is decided by God. If God’s blessings aren’t present, a man’s endeavour is in vain. Today, life is a mad rush. There are so many things we have to do, ought to do, and want to do. Many Christians find it difficult to strike a balance between work, church, home life, and leisure. Sadly, when they tick their priorities, church is often shifted down to the very bottom of the list. Can we have God’s blessings when we move Him down to the bottommost in our priority of things to do? Hear what James has to say: “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:13-15). Ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that – It means we have to make our plans around God’s blessings: “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep” (v.2). All our efforts will be futile without God’s blessings. The same applies to raising children (v.3-5). The Psalmist says: “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward” (v.3). Children are God’s gifts to couples. In the Old Testament, we read of God closing and opening wombs. To the question by Esau on those folks that were with him, Jacob answered: “The children which God hath graciously given thy servant” (Genesis 33:5b). He speaks of his children as God’s gifts, a heritage of the Lord. The special blessing the Psalmist has in his mind, as coming through our children, is that they are as arrows in the hand of a mighty man (v.4). The analogy of children to arrows is interesting. An archer does not pick up any branch from the ground and tries to shoot. He has his bow. He knows what length of the arrow he must have to fit in with the bow he has. He needs it to be a certain diameter and weight. He knows the arrow must be straight and smooth for aerodynamics. He weighs how much feathers to put at the tail end. He measures the length for the pointed head. The bow represents the parents. The arrows are the children. Parents, if we want our children to aim straight, we need to put in efforts to shape the “arrows”: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Arrows do not grow of themselves: they have to be wrought out with much thought and care; so are our children. What is our aim for our children? There are many parents in this world who are glad for their children to "get on," to become rich and to take good positions in society. What about us? Where are we aiming our “arrows”? With God’s help (except the LORD…), Christian parents raise their “children” in such a way that they become “arrows” sent out to do good for God. May we point our “arrows” towards heaven.