It is vain for you to rise up early,
To lie down late,
To eat the bread of toil;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.
Behold, children are a gift of Jehovah,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
— Psalm 127:2-3
This verse is too precious. On one hand, children are “the heritage of Jehovah.” Yet on the other hand, they are the “children of one’s youth.” They are the Lord’s children, but they come through us. These children are “like arrows in the hand of a mighty man.” They are not merely numbers and statistics, but they are “like arrows.”
Suppose there is a brother who bears some fruit. That means he becomes “like a mighty man.” Formerly he worked so hard, but he labored in vain. Everything he did to bear fruit was also in vain. But then he went to sleep. He accepted the Lord’s arrangement and put himself to death. Not so long afterwards children came out. These children are not numbers, but “arrows,” and the brother is “a mighty man.”
Adapted from The Journey of Life, pages 68-69.
Tomorrow: “Resting in the Lord”
“Sleeping” is the best way to bear fruit. If I die, Christ lives. The harder I try, the less fruit I bear. This is a hard lesson to learn. The view of our fruit becoming arrows is great. They not only believe in the Lord, but have an effect on this earth related to God’s enemy.