Establish the Work of Our Hands

 17May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.

Thoughts: Toward the ends of their career or their life people ask, "What is MY legacy?"  What will people say of me after I am gone?  Some see clearly that their work and their life seems to be meaningless and constantly criticized by people who are being mean.  
    Work is a blessing.   The lack of employment and the corresponding rise in depression teaches us that.  It keeps us busy and from being so naval gazing. Usually it means having colleagues and accomplishing something- however big or small.  But work should not be our God.  
    What is your content threshold?  Do you find contentment in raising kids- like the salmon who has spawned, they feel they can die now in peace.  Or maybe you have built a huge chain of things- houses, a business,  a book (that will be outdated), money, boyfriends or girlfriends- and now you are finally content- or at least have no more energy to do anything else.  
     Believers know that the work of our hands is established not by people who are temporary.  In a few years- maybe ten maybe a hundred- for the very popular maybe a thousand.  Think how many remember the baseball records of the great founders of the game?  Who can name the 30th president without looking?  Who can name ten Roman emperors or five Pharaohs- much less the senators or priests?  
     Think of the great poem by Shelley- Ozimandias: 

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

     Indeed, look on his forgotten might and unestablished work and weep at the passing and ephemerality of  life.  However, there is a way that our lives can have meaning, make a difference, make a mark for eternity- by tying our lives to the eternal (no matter is not eternal- the Big Bang tells us there was a beginning- and a Beginner).  
    Psalm 91 that ends with "establish the work of our hands" begins with "Lord you have been our dwelling place from generation to generation."  Christ is the solid rock- all other ground is sinking sound.  Christ teaches us about love, forgiveness, and hope.  Hooking ourselves to the Northern Star of the eternal God- who is eternally love and eternally good (holy, light)- is the best way to establish our legacy- the work of our hands.  When our glory becomes a piece of His glory our work is meaningful and not in vain. 
    This Labor Day- may God give you hope that your labor in Christ is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58) no matter what the rest say.  

Prayer: Lord, establish the work of my hands. May my hope be in your glory, not mine.