Who is the builder of your house?

By: Sofia Di

[©Sofia Di]

    Psalms 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. 

      My first job as a wife is to believe in Jesus Christ and rest in His finished work. In this way, I can have an assurance that none of my imperfect efforts to build my house will fail. It is easy to rest when I know that He is the watchmen and the builder of my house.

   The other day I was reading a story about Abraham. I noticed that even though he was declared righteous, he was not a perfect man. Abraham didn't do everything right to build his marriage. The only thing he did right was to believe in the Lord, which gave him a right standing before God. When we have right standing before God we are qualified to be blessed.
    In Genesis 20, we learn that after Abraham was declared righteous he made a selfish mistake. He lied about his wife to protect his own life. The bible tells us that Abraham said of his beautiful wife, "she is my sister". He was afraid that Abimelech, king of Gerar, would try to kill him because of Sarah's beauty. Abraham was somehow right, King Abimelech liked Sarah and took her for himself.

     If we think about this part of the story, we realized that Abraham jeopardized his marriage in a huge way! His decision was hurtful for Sarah. She probably believed that her husband didn't cherish her. She probably felt insecure, unloved, and disposable. Sarah could have been dishonored, used by a king and then remain for ever captive in a harem. Perhaps she would have become the king's wife. Abraham could have lost every chance to bring her back to him.

    The events on the story are showing us that Abraham was not taking care of his wife or his marriage as he should have but his mistakes were not bigger than his God! Later on, we learn that God spoke to this King in dreams and forbid him to touch Sarah. God protected Abraham's wife and his marriage.

   Genesis 20 verse 6-7 God said to Abimelech in the dream, "Yes, I know your intentions were pure, that's why I kept you from sinning against me; I was the one who kept you from going to bed with her. So now give the man's wife back to him. He's a prophet and will pray for you—pray for your life. If you don't give her back, know that it's certain death both for you and everyone in your family."

    How faithful our God is! He was taking care of Abraham's marriage. This is exactly what happens when we let God be the builder and watchmen of our marriage. We do not have to be afraid of something bad happening to it. We just need to remember that God is the one who protects our husband, his job, life, character, health, finances, integrity, purity.
       Abraham's wife and marriage were saved because God declared him righteous. Today because of what Jesus did at the cross, when we believe, we are declared the righteousness of God. Therefore, We have access to a blessed marriage.

    Like Abraham, there will be times that we will do everything right to build our house. There will be times we will make mistakes. Hence the importance to believe in the Lord. Lets remember that not even the best of our efforts are enough to build our house. Only Jesus' work at the cross is perfect and sufficient to save, build and restore our marriages.

      If you've made mistakes while building your marriage, tell Jesus that you believe He is your help. Invite him to be the builder or re-builder of your home. His love will empower you to do what you need to do. His power will restore everything that has been broken.