Benjamin Franklin Was No Prophet
“It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors. For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.” Psalm 127:2
Benjamin Franklin Was No Prophet
Bread of painful labors – Do you eat the bread of painful labor? Nearly everyone I know does. We are a “work and worry” world. Striving is the motto of the day. Striving for excellence. Striving for profit. Striving for happiness. Striving for perfection. In this world, it’s all on your back. No wonder the pharmaceutical companies are enjoying record profits. The pace of life pushes us into medical collapse. We need a pill for everything.
King David saw the futility of this kind of living. He had a different perspective on the universe. Those nights as a shepherd, sitting under the stars, gave him a deep appreciation for the majesty of God. And it convinced him that our lives are insignificant wisps of smoke unless God takes personal interest in us. Did you really think that it was all up to you? Did you really imagine that you had control of the process? If you are living under the gun, then you need a good dose of heavenly reality. Take a walk with Nebuchadnezzar on the walls of Babylon and recall who really determines the path of your life. It’s not Benjamin Franklin.
“Early to bed and early to rise” is not Biblical wisdom. Whenever we act with the perception that we must carry the load alone, whenever we think that we are the sole source of our own self-sufficiency, we will eat the bread of anxious toil. And we will be far a field from the goodness of God. God won’t interfere in our deception until He is ready. He will let us be crushed under the wheel of “too much to do” because He knows that we have to experience the futility of that reality before we are ready to look up to the stars. Maybe one reason why this world is so intent on its own advancement into meaninglessness is that we have blotted out the heavens with lights and pollution. We can’t see the majesty overhead so we stare at the ground beneath our feet.
Do you want out of the rat race? Are you tired of being tired? Are you sick of the crush? There is an answer, but it’s a scary one (on the surface). Are you ready to believe completely, without any reservation, that God cares for you? Are you ready to say, “Lord, the pace of my life dishonors You because it is consumed with me. I am going to STOP. I am going to believe that obedience in more important than output. I am going to TRUST You.”
Who runs your life? The Day-timer or the Day Maker?
