God’s Carpentry
August 17, 2024
Very early in my Born Again walk with Jesus, when I was just starting out my rehabilitation from a very useless and very unproductive life, I made a wooden workbox tools in my pickup truck and hand painted this Scripture on one side:
“If the LORD does not build the house, the work of the builders is useless; if the LORD does not protect the city, it does no good for the sentries to stand guard.” — Psalm 127:1, Good News Translation.
My son now has it in his work area, but here’s a photo of my wood tool tote stored in my shed with a related Scripture:
At the time, the only Bible I had was the King James Version, published in 1611. and so that was the version I copied, but I understood its purpose quite well:
“Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” — ibid, King James Version.
Now, about the dire situation in the Middle East, that Scripture applies on a very large scale.
The political leaders of many countries have tried to resolve the issues since the 1940’s. Those efforts have obviously failed. They will continue to fail. No matter the worthwhile attempts by Mankind, it simply ain’t gonna happen…
“My thoughts,” says the Lord, “are not like yours, and my ways are different from yours. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways and thoughts above yours.” — Isaiah 55:8–9, GNT.
As I understand my Bible reading, the “Two State Solution” is a well-meaning but futile attempt to bring peace to the region. The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are parts of the land promised to Abraham. Yes, but “This is another irony in modern politics: the Palestinians in truth are blood brothers or cousins of the modern Israelis — they are all descendants of Abraham and Ishmael, so to speak.” — Wikipedia.com.
However, the Promised Land inheritance was next passed down through Isaac and Jacob, not Ishmael.
One more problem impeding the fulfillment of progress towards the fulfillment of God’s promise is the Israeli’s themselves: they are not all following the Law of Moses. Many influences from outside cultures from the Far East, spiritism and such modern false religions — idolatry, if you will — stand in the way. Until the people of the nation of Israel do their part, God is prevented from doing His part. Certainly, God is not physically prevented, but is morally prevented:
“If they pray to me and repent and turn away from the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their sins, and make their land prosperous again.” — 2 Chronicles 7:14, ibid.
In other words, first, things first.
Also, I have to assume the Ishmaelites have to change their tune also, accepting God’s promise to them:
“Abraham bowed down with his face touching the ground, but he began to laugh when he thought, ‘Can a man have a child when he is a hundred years old? Can Sarah have a child at ninety?’ He asked God, ‘Why not let Ishmael be my heir?’
But God said, ‘No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son and you will name him Isaac. I will keep my covenant with him and with his descendants forever. It is an everlasting covenant.’
‘I have heard your request about Ishmael, so I will bless him and give him many children and many descendants. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make a great nation of his descendants. But I will keep my covenant with your son Isaac…’ “ — Genesis 17:17–21, ibid.
So, that’s that. Resistance is futile. No matter how noble Mankind’s efforts may be, “If the LORD does not build the house, the work of the builders is useless; if the LORD does not protect the city, it does no good for the sentries to stand guard.”
