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3 Days of Prayer and Fasting (2023/01)

Psalm 127
A SONG OF ASCENTS. OF SOLOMON.
1 Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Day 1: Loving God
Reflect:
“Man proposes, but God disposes.” This famous saying from German minister Thomas à Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ (I.19) is a distillation of Proverbs 19:21, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.” There is a widespread delusion among humankind that we are masters of our own fate, but the truth is that we control an infinitesimally small fraction of the myriad factors that affect us. In fact, we are not in control at all. In the first strophe, verses 1-2, it repeats the phrase “in vain” three times, “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” The word “vanity” here means worthlessness or futility (cf. Isa. 1:13). It’s futile, it’s a waste to engage in these activities apart from the LORD’s superintendence.
In our society, we often find faithlessness that masquerades as wisdom. Many people are anxious and fearful, because they believe that they are masters of their own fate. But verse 2 exhorts us, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” What keeps you up at night? What preoccupies you with anxiety? Those who are self-sufficient eat “the bread of anxious toil” and “build [their household] … in vain,” but those who are God-dependent receive their household as “a heritage from the LORD.”
Recommended Song: “Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me” by City Alight (Find it on our church’s Spotify playlist, “Trinity Hymnal,” at http://bit.do/trinityhymnal)
Pray:
  • Name your anxieties and entrust them to God’s sovereign care.
  • Ask God to humble you and make you more prayerful and dependent on Him.
  • Thank God specifically for various aspects of the gift of salvation that you have received from the riches of His grace.
  • Pray that the Lord would bless your endeavors and enable you to glorify His name through them.

Day 2: Loving One Another
Reflect:
“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” The word “house” can refer not only to God’s temple, but also to one’s physical house or to one’s household or family (cf. Gen. 16:2; 30:3; Exod. 1:21; Ps. 113:9). And the rest of the psalm does seem to apply the phrase “to build the house” in a metaphorical sense of building one’s family as well: “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.”
Recommended Song: “All Glory Be To Christ” by Kings Kaleidoscope (Find it on our church’s Spotify playlist, “Trinity Hymnal,” at http://bit.do/trinityhymnal)
Pray:
  • Pray for all the “households” that make up our church, for God’s spiritual protection over them.
  • Pray that the singles in our church would be characterized by contentment in, and undivided devotion to, Christ, and that God would grant them godly partners if He so wills.
  • Pray for people in our church who are recently married or getting married soon, that their would marriages would be founded on and reflect the gospel of Jesus Christ.
  • Pray for married couples who are experiencing strain in their relationships, for God to grant them renewal and restoration.
  • Pray for couples in our church who desire children, that God would open their wombs and give them sons and daughters.
  • Pray that husbands and fathers would be godly spiritual leaders in their homes, loving their wives as Christ loves the church, and instructing their children to love and serve the Lord.
  • Pray that wives and mothers would respect and submit to their husbands, and nurture their children in ways of the LORD.
  • Pray that God’s wisdom and love would guide our children’s ministry leader Jenni Robinson, and that God would save every child in Trinity Cambridge Church.
  • Pray for our elders, Matt Huckins, Paul Buckley, and Shawn Woo, and our pastoral intern Ed Kang, that they would be united, and that they would be faithful in the ministry world and in prayers.
  • Pray for our deacons, Jen Cook, Jon So, and Lauren Miller, that God would grow them in wisdom and discernment as they minister to the temporal needs of our members.
  • Pray that our church’s ministry leaders would use the gifts that God has given them and the strength that He supplies to build up our church.

Day 3: Loving Our Neighbors
Reflect:
“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” The Hebrew word for “house” is often used in Scripture to refer to the temple,” aka. the house of God (Ezek. 41:7ff.; Mic. 3:12; Hag. 1:8; cf. Gen. 28:22; 1 Sam. 1:7; Exod. 23:19; 34:26; Josh. 6:24; 1 Kings 6:5; Isa. 2:2; Dan. 1:2). For a number of reasons, I think the original context in which this psalm was composed had the house and household of God in view. First, if you look at the subtitle of the psalm, it tells us that it belongs to a collection called “Songs of Ascent,” Psalms 120-134 (cf. Ezra 7:9). The consistent theme of all the psalms in this collection is an expression of longing for Jerusalem and Mount Zion upon which rested the temple of God. These psalms depict a metaphorical ascent toward the dwelling place of God. Second, the rest of the subtitle says, “Of Solomon.” This means either that Solomon composed the psalm, or that the psalm deals with the circumstances that are related to Solomon. So verse 1 can be referring to the time when Solomon was building up Jerusalem and constructing the temple of the LORD (1 Kings 6; 2 Chron. 3). Third, verse 2 says, “[the LORD] gives to his beloved sleep.” The phrase “his beloved” (יָדִיד) is likely a reference to Solomon, because we know from 2 Samuel 12:24-25 that “the LORD’s beloved” was a nickname for Solomon. It says, “the LORD loved [Solomon] and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.” “Jedidiah” means “the LORD’s beloved,” it’s the same word that is used here in verse 2. So if Solomon wrote Psalm 127, it is likely that he was writing from this original background of construction of the temple. Solomon knew that unless the LORD builds His house, unless the LORD watches over His city, even the diligent construction efforts by the greatest architects and engineers and builders, even the vigilant defense of the bravest military, would be for nought.
Likewise, we, the church, is “the temple of the living God” (2 Cor. 6:16), and “God’s Spirit dwells in [us]” (1 Cor. 3:16). Unless the LORD builds the church, those who build it labor in vain. But if the Lord Jesus “build[s] [His] church,” then “the gates of hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).
Recommended Song: “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” by Chris Rice (Find it on our church’s Spotify playlist, “Trinity Hymnal,” at http://bit.do/trinityhymnal)
Pray:
  • Pray that our church would grow in the breadth and depth of our prayers, so that, in everything we do, we are consciously dependent on God.
  • Praise God for the provision of Kennedy-Longfellow School, and ask Him for favor with the school custodians, parents, teachers, and administrators.
  • Ask God for a literal physical building for our church in East Cambridge, which can be a permanent, stable location for worship and prayer.
  • Pray that God would embolden all of our church members to share the gospel with unbelievers, so that 2023 becomes a year when we, as a church, sow more gospel seeds than ever before.
  • Pray that God would bring those whom He has appointed to salvation to attend our Bridge Course.
  • Pray for specific unbelieving family members, friends, and neighbors, that they would come to Jesus and believe in Him for salvation.
  • Pray that God would raise up teams of full-time missionaries from our church who would go to the unreached people groups to proclaim the gospel, so that “all people” are drawn to Jesus.

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