Who Is Building This

The psalmist writes, "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." Solomon is talking about more than lumber and nails. He means the household, the marriage, the family a man is trying to hold together with his own effort.

Many men fighting this struggle are exhausted from building alone. They white-knuckle their way toward purity, they install the filters and make the promises, and they carry the whole weight of the home on their own shoulders, and still it feels like it is coming apart in their hands. The psalm gently names the problem, which is that a house built on willpower alone is built in vain.

God is not a last resort for when your methods fail. He wants to be the builder from the ground up, the one whose strength holds the walls while you do your part. Bring him the house you have been straining to build by yourself, your marriage and your own heart included, and ask him to take up the work. Then rest a little, knowing the outcome does not rest on you alone.