The Futility of the Self-Help Mentality

“Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who built it; Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.” – Psalm 127:1

Many of us have been to the book store and have eventually found our way to passing the self-help section. We see books that tell us how to be better parents, and better students. I have seen books on self-betterment all from a secular point of view. There might be books on how to quit smoking or drinking. All of these books focus on one thing, selfish ambition and techniques to help yourself accomplish something. As I think about Psalm 127:1, I have heard many pray the first half of the passage, especially when planning for building projects, “Lord unless you build the house, we labor in vain.”

What about the second half of the verse? “Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.” We can seek to guard ourselves from sin, are those things that are considered bad for us, such as smoking or drinking. Perhaps even the self-help books have a hint of guarding from the failures of our past. All of these are futile if they are done in selfish ambition. “Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.” No matter how hard we try and guard our hearts from failure it is futile apart from the watchful hand of the Lord. Verse 2 even goes on to say that the labor gets up early goes to bed late and spends all day laboring, but the psalmist says that is all vain, because the Lord gives to His beloved even in his sleep. Just a few chapters earlier in Psalm 121, the psalmist says, “He who keeps you will not slumber, Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”

As I write this, my Wife and I are celebrating 9 years of marriage yesterday. This weekend we have a chance to relax a little from the responsibilities of ministry and work to just be together. We both want to see our marriage grow and be guarded from the things that are destroying marriage today. As I think about this, I pray Lord you build our home.” Because unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Also I pray that the Lord would guard our marriage from all the dangers of sin that seek to destroy what God has designed in the Garden as well as in our lives these past 9 years. “Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.” We cannot build or guard our marriage effectively if the Lord is not the master builder and the chief guard of it. Psalm 121 encourages me, because there will be times that I will be caught sleeping, or with my eyes looking the other way in the busyness of ministry and work. Yet it is during those times, that the one who is building my home, guarding my marriage neither slumbers nor sleeps. He has a constant watchful eye on my life and my marriage. And though sometimes it seems like we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil for the one who neither slumbers nor sleeps is with me.

So the next time you go to the book store looking for that book on beating bad habits, think about this, and I paraphrase, “Unless the Lord guards the city, you are throwing away [put price of book here].