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.
Like arrows in the hand of a mighty man,
So are the children of one’s youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They will not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies in the gate.
— Psalm 127:2-5
This psalm began with so many things done in vain, but it concludes with, “Blessed is the man.” The word “blessed” in the Bible can also be translated “happy.” At this point in the psalm, we are happy. We are joyful, because our quiver is full of arrows. What is the “quiver” here? The quiver is the church life. When there is no quiver, then there is no place for all the arrows. We may have so many arrows, but without the church life they will all disappear. We must be in the church life for all of our experiences of the Lord to be retained.
No matter how useful, capable, or well-equipped we are, we must have the church life to uphold us. All our transformation, all our equipping, and all our fruitfulness is for the church life. When we have a quiver full of arrows, then we are truly blessed with the rich enjoyment of our transformation.
Adapted from The Journey of Life, pages 72-73.
Monday: “The Church is An Organism”