581_Recognizing the unseen hand of God in our lives (Psalm 127) Psalm 127 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. 2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. 3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. 5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. You may have heard the famous story about the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. In the late 1800s, John Roebling had a daring vision of a suspension bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn—an idea almost everyone thought was impossible. During construction, John was fatally injured, and his son Washington Roebling became the chief engineer. Shortly after, Washington developed severe decompression sickness that left him unable to walk or speak normally. Confined to his room, he watched the construction through a small window. But he still believed the bridge could be completed. The only way he could communicate was by tapping one finger on his wife Emily’s arm. She learned to interpret his taps, relay his instructions to the workers, and essentially became the bridge’s voice and overseer. Through unbelievable difficulty and unseen labor, the Brooklyn Bridge was completed. The public saw the visible bridge. But behind the scenes was an unseen, guiding presence—a man unable to stand, building through the determined hands of another. Without that unseen guidance, the bridge would never have stood. In a similar but far deeper way, Psalm 127 invites us to recognize the unseen hand of God in every area of our lives. We may see the bricks, tools, plans, and human effort—but Scripture reminds us that behind our visible work is an invisible Builder, Protector, and Provider who makes all things stand. Psalm 127 is one of the Songs of Ascents—pilgrims sang these psalms as they journeyed up toward Jerusalem. As they climbed, they reminded themselves of this fundamental truth: human effort without divine involvement is ultimately empty. The psalm opens with the blunt yet liberating reality: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” The psalmist is not condemning building or guarding or working; he is showing us the limits of our human strength and the necessity of God’s hand in all things. You can have bricks, mortar, resources, planning, intelligence, and human strength—but without God’s active help, the entire structure collapses. We see this principle dramatically illustrated in Genesis 11 with the Tower of Babel. God had commanded humanity to “be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.” But the people did not want to scatter. Instead, they settled in Shinar and said, “Let us build a city and a tower
