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
The process of bearing fruit makes you a fighter, a mighty man. On the one hand you have been resting, yet on the other hand you know how to fight, you know how to struggle, you know how to deal with the enemy, and you know how to gain the victory. You are a mighty man with arrows.
These arrows didn’t come by doing things outwardly. They came by an inner work of transformation. Because you were so much before the Lord, you allowed the Lord to transform you and make you fruitful. As you were asleep, and in your submission to the Lord, transformation came. Out of transformation you became a mighty man with arrows.
Adapted from The Journey of Life, page 71.
Tomorrow: “Saved from Building in Vain”