Daily Lesson for May 25, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson is Psalm 127:

1 Unless the Lord builds the house,

    those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord guards the city,

    the guard keeps watch in vain.

2 It is in vain that you rise up early

    and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

for he gives sleep to his beloved.

3 Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord,

    the fruit of the womb a reward.

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

    are the sons of one’s youth.

5 Happy is the man who has

    his quiver full of them.

He shall not be put to shame

    when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

As we are reading along through the Bible, we come now to the end of King David's reign and the beginning of Solomon's.  The Lesson today is one of the Psalms of Ascent -- Psalms sung as Jewish pilgrims made their way to the Temple in Jerusalem -- and the only Psalm of Ascent said to be written by Solomon who built the Temple.

Charles Spurgeon called Psalm 127 "the Builder's Psalm", calling attention to the similarity of the word sons (banim) in verse 3 and builders (bonim) in verse 1.

Today is Memorial Day, and we can think how many sons have given their lives in the building of this nation.  We remember especially today the sons' and daughters' lives which were taken like arrows from a quiver in defense of this country and its ideals. Our deepest prayer today is that these lives shall not have been spent in vain.

That depends on us now.  These sons and daughters are no more, arrows lost in wars and conflicts, some more noble than others.  But the building still stands and, indeed, is still being built.  And we honor the builders who built before by continuing to build on the foundations they set through the centuries -- Life and Liberty, E pluribus unum, Truth, Justice, and the American way.

NOTE: Tomorrow's Lesson will come from 1 Kings 1-2; Psalms 37, 71, 94.