Happy Is the Man

For a little while now, I've been thinking about the verses from Psalm 127 about children. It came up in a discussion with my brother about how many kids we were wanting/planning to have in our families. And I can't help but think of the many, MANY times I've heard of this verse being used, not as a principle, but as some kind of legalistic measuring stick requiring that people have such-and-such amount of children. How many arrows used to fit in an old-fashioned quiver? Is that how many kids we're supposed to have? What is too few? Is there such a thing as too many? What about the people who can't have that many kids?

Before going on, here is the entire Psalm:

127Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

² 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.
³ Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
⁴ As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
⁵ Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.


Things that are VERY clear from this small amount of text:
Without God's blessing, our actions are worthless - fruitless.
God gives good things to those He loves.
Children are one of those blessings.

As Pastor Alistair Begg often says, "The main things are the plain things." The emphasis of the chapter is NOT on how many kids you have. It just says that if God gives you lots, you've been blessed lots. If someone gets eight hours of sleep every night, they are blessed - God gives sleep to those He loves. That doesn't mean that the person who has trouble sleeping for three hours a night is NOT blessed of God, or sub-par or a bad Christian. It just means that God hasn't blessed them as much in that particular way. How many hours of sleep I get is not a reflection of my status before God. Which is good, because the people who are having all the kids are generally not getting much sleep. So you're basically trading one blessing of God for another. Does that mean that you aren't blessed? Does it mean that you aren't following God? No... What lunacy! 

To be honest, I'm so sick of Christians passing judgment on other Christians about stuff like this. Saying that such a person should or should not be having more kids.... I'm so tired of it. And I've heard both. I've heard people who have been judged to death that they don't have enough kids. And on the other side, that family has too many because their kids don't act the way I think they should.

It's such a lack of grace. There's no grace in that. There's no bearing each other's burdens. There's no coming alongside, no gentleness, no offering of sympathy, no kindness. 

When did Christians lose gentleness? It's gone. Of all the fruits of the Spirit that people talk about, gentleness just isn't there. Of all the things that are lacking in our churches, gentleness is the one that I just don't see often. I think that's why I gravitate to older crowds. Old people tend to be very gentle; it's grandparent syndrome. But that's a topic for a different day - gentleness, the missing fruit.

Anyway, I think that poor fifth verse has been so abused. It's not about a number. It's about the blessing. It's not about judging each other because of what God has blessed them with (or not), but about rejoicing in whatever blessing He's given because He has blessed us all. So one person has sleep and one person has kids - let's all be grateful to our God together. It's like Christmas - you don't get mad cause you got a bike and your sibling got a pogo stick. Just be grateful to your parents for what they gave you and rejoice with your sibling in that you have kind, loving parents. O, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together!