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God Blesses Families

(Psalms 127 & 128)

Lesson 7 -- second quarter 2010
April 18, 2010

by Mark Roth
© Copyright 2010

Introductory questions to chew

Am I consciously a laborer together with God?

Am I working with or against God in my family?

Am I sleep-deprived?

What am I doing with my "arrows"?

How has God blessed me of late?

What are some long-term blessings I've overlooked or forgotten?

What divine purposes do I discern for my family?

And for my placement in my various families?

Except the Lord

"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 127:1).

The builder and the watchman must still do their parts. The husband and father must still do his part. The wife and mother must still do her part.

With the Lord. Or the building and the watching will be in vain.

The Lord will be faithful in that which corresponds to Him. Will I?

I haven't been, always. I regret that. My heart breaks over that. And over those affected by my failure.

But all is not lost! The question now is, Will I be faithful from this point forward? Because I can redeem what's left of my stewardship! With the Lord.

So help me, God.

Two notes to young folks

Why must I be in this family?

The other family is the perfect one, or at least more so than your own, right? Yours is either too big or too small, too affluent or too poor, too strict or too lenient, too orderly or too disorganized, too plain or too fancy, too fun or too dull, too something or too other. Faith believes that any other family is not the right one for you. Faith learns to rejoice in God's provisions for you...and your family...by so wisely selecting your family tree. Then faith blooms accordingly.

Be a faithful family member.

When it comes to faithfulness in family settings, we invariably think of the husband and the wife being faithful to one another, and of children faithfully obeying their parents. However, all family members need to choose faithfulness to one another as parents or children or siblings. For instance, your siblings should know that they can depend on you to stand up for them in adversity. They should have confidence that you will never despise and reject them personally, no matter what. They should also be able to count on you doing your share of the work, and even theirs when they can't. What are some other ways of expressing faithfulness toward your family?

This concludes my comments based on the alternate lesson developed by Christian Light Publications. To read my comments on the passage for the International Bible Study, click here: The Necessity of Love.


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