Psalms for the Summer - Part 2 [Notes] Copy

What if this summer could strengthen your relationship with God and others? Psalms for the Summer is a 4-week journey through the Psalms as we discover how praise, creation, family, and community can help us experience the goodness of God all season long.

Problem:
We sometimes struggle to see and treat kids as gifts from the Lord.

Takeaway:
“Pass the ball” this summer because kids are gifts from the Lord.

“Pass the ball” this summer because kids are gifts from the Lord.
Psalm 127:1-2 – Without the Lord, life is vain, vain, vain…
Psalm 127:3-5 – Children are a gift from the Lord

A song of ascents. Of Solomon.
1 Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain. 2 In vain you get up early and stay up late, working hard to have enough food—yes, he gives sleep to the one he loves., 3 Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, offspring, a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth. 5 Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them. They will never be put to shame when they speak with their enemies at the city gate.
— Psalm 127 (CSB)

Psalm 127
A song of ascents. Of Solomon.

Superscription: An inscription or heading often used in ancient texts and manuscripts, including those in the Bible.
– Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary

The title “song of ascents” identifies each of Psalms 120 – 134 as a pilgrim song to be sung when the Israelites “ascended” (went up) to Jerusalem for the annual feasts. Four of these 15 psalms are ascribed to David (Pss. 122; 124; 131; 133), 1 to Solomon (Ps. 127), and the other 10 are anonymous.  
– Dr. Allen Ross, The Bible Knowledge Commentary

Solomon: Tenth son of David and the second son of Bathsheba, Solomon became the third king of Israel and reigned 40 years about 1000 B.C.

Solomon was born to David and Bathsheba after the death of their first son (2 Sam. 12:24). Although not the oldest living son of David, he was crowned king after his mother and Nathan the prophet intervened with David and secured David’s decision to have Solomon succeed him (1 Kings 1–2). Solomon is remembered most for his wisdom, his building program, and his wealth generated through trade and administrative reorganization. Solomon was remembered as having 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs in his repertoire (1 Kings 4:32).
– Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary

“Pass the ball” this summer because kids are gifts from the Lord.
Psalm 127:1-2 – Without the Lord, life is vain, vain, vain…

1 Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain. 2 In vain you get up early and stay up late, working hard to have enough food—yes, he gives sleep to the one he loves.
— Psalm 127:1-2 (CSB)

1 The words of the Teacher,, son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2 “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Absolute futility. Everything is futile.” 3 What does a person gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun?
— Ecclesiastes 1:1-3 (CSB)

Psalm 127:1-2 – “Vain”
Shav – emptiness, worthlessness, or effort that accomplishes nothing.

Ecclesiastes 1:2 – “Futility”
Hevel – literally breath or vapor; something fleeting, elusive, impossible to grasp.

This Psalm emphasizes the importance of relying on the Lord for purpose and meaning in every aspect of life. Hard work and personal goals in life are important; however, depending on anything or anyone other than the Lord for purpose and success is vain. Any labor undertaken to meet one’s needs, no matter how industrious, if undertaken in a manner and for a purpose inconsistent with God‘s Word will in the end be unsatisfying and even unsuccessful.
–The Moody Bible Commentary

“Pass the ball” this summer because kids are gifts from the Lord.
Psalm 127:1-2 – Without the Lord, life is vain, vain, vain…
Psalm 127:3-5 – Children are a gift from the Lord

3 Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, offspring, a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth. 5 Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them. They will never be put to shame when they speak with their enemies at the city gate.
— Psalm 127:3-5 (CSB) {Emphasis added]

“Heritage”
Nahalah – an inheritance, possession, or gift received from another.

In the agrarian culture of Israel, children were the key to a successful family, and the absence of offspring was a family disaster. The point is that, if God does give children, they are to be viewed as a gift (lit. “the inheritance or property”) of the Lord. This inheritance He has in turn entrusted to human parents for proper care and nurture, both physically and spiritually. Children, the fruit of the womb, are a reward, because only the Lord can create life. Godly people throughout the Scriptures valued, protected, and taught their children as the Lord commanded (cf. Deut. 6:4-9). This does not suggest that children are the only or even the best gift God can give, or that if one does not or cannot have children is lacking an important gift of God and is somehow less favored by Him.
– The Moody Bible Commentary

3 Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, offspring, a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth. 5 Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them. They will never be put to shame when they speak with their enemies at the city gate.
— Psalm 127:3-5 (CSB)

Children are compared to arrows in the hand of a warrior, for like arrows, adult children could provide protection for the family in times of danger. Depending on how these arrows (children) are shaped, drawn, and aimed, they might either miss the intended target or hit it on the bull’s-eye (cf. the principle in Proverbs 22:6).
– The Moody Bible Commentary

6 Start a youth out on his way; even when he grows old he will not depart from it.
— Proverbs 22:6 (CSB)

3 Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, offspring, a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth. 5 Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them. They will never be put to shame when they speak with their enemies at the city gate.
 — Psalm 127:3-5 (CSB) [Emphasis added]

Court proceedings, social interactions, and commercial transactions normally took place in the gates of a city.
– HCSB Study Bible

See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are!
— 1 John 3:1a (CSB) 

“Pass the ball” this summer because kids are gifts from the Lord.
Psalm 127:1-2 – Without the Lord, life is vain, vain, vain…
• Response: Stay connected to Jesus (John 15:1-8)

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.
— John 15:5 (CSB) 

“Pass the ball” this summer because kids are gifts from the Lord.

Psalm 127:1-2 – Without the Lord, life is vain, vain, vain…
• Response: Stay connected to Jesus (John 15:1-8)

Psalm 127:3-5 – Children are a gift from the Lord
• Response: Ask God to help you see and treat kids like Jesus did (Matthew 19:13-15)

13 Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 Jesus said, “Leave the little children alone, and don’t try to keep them from coming to me, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”, 15 After placing his hands on them, he went on from there.
— Matthew 19:13-15 (CSB) 

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