Psalm 127: Wait for the Work of the Lord

We have a strange relationship to work. Some of us are workaholics. Others are “working for the weekend.”

Of all the Pilgrim Psalms, Psalm 127 provides us a theology of work. As Eugene Peterson points out in A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, the first thing the Bible tells us about God is that God created–God worked. Work is at the core of who we are as creatures in God’s image. Unlike God, however, we have limits to what we can achieve with our work. Psalm 127 tells us that we can keep watch, but only God keeps us secure. We can plant, but only God can give the harvest. Peterson compares frantic activity on the one hand and detached laziness on the other. In between those extremes is work that is full of joy and meaning, that trusts the Lord for the miracles of life and food, and that rests securely in the Lord when work is over.

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