Unless the Lord Builds

This year, we're collaborating with writers across the Augustine Collective, a network of student-led Christian journals, to bring you a series of short devotional articles during this season of Lent, the 40-day period prior to Easter. Find this series also published by UChicago's CANA Journal and UC Berkeley's TAUG.

By lydia huang

As if the dark circles under my eyes were not enough to indicate that I needed to rest, it felt like God stopped knocking quietly and broke down the door to get my attention when I found myself sick with a fever. I lay there paralyzed, knowing exactly what had gotten me there. I was pushing myself too hard and not getting enough sleep. 

While immobile on my bed, my mind turned to the Psalms. 

If the Lord does not build the house, the builders build in vain. [1]

Some trust in chariots or horses, but we trust in the name of our Lord Adonai. [2]

The Lord’s pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor His delight in the warrior, but the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in His unfailing love. [3]

I forget the Lord and His faithfulness more times than I can possibly count. Moreover, I too often rely on my anxiety-driven work ethic to get to where I want to be. Beneath the placid, calm exterior I usually portray, I’m a very anxious person. From the moment that I wake up, my head immediately goes to all the things that I have to accomplish in a day. Pray. Breakfast. Gym. Study. Classes. Clubs. Research. My days turn into an endless cycle of Spartan-like discipline and productivity—because that’s just how one “gets things done” here at Cornell. And in this economy, how does one even land a job without putting their axe to the grindstone? Though it is a good and blessed thing to work, my anxiousness was poisoning me. 

When I told my friends that I chose to fast from worry (and not cookies) this Lent, they almost didn’t believe me. 

How does one fast from worry?

To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure how either, but I knew that it needed to be done. 

The unfailing antidote to my worry, I’ve learned, is abiding in the peace of the Lord. Scripture commands us to “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.” It continues, “For six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.” [4]

When I balk at His commands, I am reminded that “the law of the Lord is perfect…the statutes of the Lord are just.” [5] His thoughts are above my thoughts, and His ways above my ways. [6] 

The second part of the aforementioned Psalm alludes to how God grants us sleep. Even in our sleep, He provides what we so anxiously strive for during the day. Knowing this, I can finally attend to my dark circles and rest with confidence (even in this job economy)!

This Sunday, let us find rest in our Savior who calls us into a rest that lasts.

Lydia is a third-year at Cornell studying Industrial and Labor Relations. She wishes she studied Scripture full time. 

SOURCES

[1] Psalm 127:1 (NIV)

[2] Psalm 20:7 (NIV)

[3] Psalm 147:10 (NIV)

[4] Exodus 20:1-17 (NIV)

[5] Psalm 19:7-8 (NIV)

[6] Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)