Except the LORD

Nisi Dominus Frustra. For centuries the city of Edinburgh has carried those Latin words on its coat of arms. They come from the opening of today's psalm, cut down to almost nothing: unless the Lord, in vain. A whole city chose a warning about its own building as its motto.

So, Lord, build the house, or do not let us build it at all, because without You "they labour in vain that build it." The plans are drawn and the money is already moving, and we want to know whether You are in this. The psalm still expects us to work, but it will not let us think our work is enough. "Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." So keep the city, Lord, and we will keep watch. Staying awake is our part, and we are not asking to be let off. We are asking that our watching would not turn out to be for nothing.

Then comes the next line, the one we have been avoiding for years: "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." Give us that sleep, Lord. The work will not be finished tonight. Give us sleep anyway, with the job still undone, as proof that the house was never resting on the hours we put in.

After the sleep, the psalm speaks of children, of arrows and a full quiver, and of a man who can face his enemies in the gate. Children are called "an heritage of the LORD" and "his reward," which means they are gifts we receive. Put the two halves of the psalm side by side, and it is a song about two things a hard-working person can never produce alone: rest at night, and a family to carry on after them. You give both, Father, to people who keep working. The emptiness was never in the work. It comes from believing that our work holds up the roof, when You are the One who holds it. Amen.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 337 is Everlasting Kingdom (Psalm 145:13).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna, Year Two