Getting Over the Hump of Hump Day

Today is Wednesday, the day that those who go to work every Monday through Friday, call hump day. This is the day that when you get through, you know you are over the “hump’, your work week is halfway finished. Most people long for the weekend. They are like little worker ants, going back and forth to work, over and over until it becomes a monotonous life. The wisest man that ever lived understood the drudgery of this life. Solomon had this say in the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.  Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me.  And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.  Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. - Ecclesiastes 2:17-20

For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun?  For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity. - Ecclesiastes 2:22-23

Can you relate? I know there were many days I felt exactly this way during the forty-some years I was in the work force. It all seemed pointless. Truthfully, without the hope we have in Jesus for the eternity to come, it is pointless. If you don’t live with the view of eternal life, you will die one day and someone else will have all that you worked for.

Solomon has a suggestion for those whose life is void of God.

So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry, and this will stand by him in his toils throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun. - Ecclesiastes 8:15

And that is exactly what so many do. They whine, complain, and drag themselves through the week, living only to party. Some go home everyday and medicate themselves with drinks and drugs just to get through the day to day grind. The problem is this does not satisfy. Solomon knew this; he tested it out. No one partied like him. He had it all and in the end, he found it all to be a waste.

He came to this conclusion when the party ended.

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.  For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. - Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

It’s hump day. What will you do with the rest of your week? Your life?

There is a better way. Begin to live for Jesus. Do all things as if it was Him you are doing it for. Go to work and do it to His glory. Spend your time off enjoying life and giving glory to God by finding joy in the hope that this life is merely the path to eternity, where those who know Christ, will live in eternal bliss, unlike anything we can presently know. Listen to the words of Jesus as found in John 10:7-10 , "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  "All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.  "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.  "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

There’s a better way. There’s a better life. There’s an abundant life in Jesus.

Today is hump day. But it can be more, so much more.

Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.  For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. - 2 Corinthians 6:1-2

Studies in the Psalms - Psalm 127

The world preaches a lie; it tells us that we must be self-sufficient and strong. But the Word of God teaches us differently. It tells us that when we are weak, then we are strong (see 2 Corinthians 12:9-11). In Matthew 15:5, Jesus says, “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.” Psalm 127 reminds us of the folly of doing things ourselves. Note the importance of not only letting Jesus be the power behind what we build, but also the need to live by faith in Christ to protect us, our families, and even our possessions.

Psalm 127:1

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.

Like many of you have done or are doing, I got up every day for some forty years and dove into the rat race of the working world. Verse 2 seems to have been written to those who worked for the telephone company I worked for. Countless days I went in early only to stay deep into the night, trying to make a living. But the more money I made, the more money we spent. Easy come, easy go says the old saying. It wasn’t all that easy to make money for me. But it sure did disappear from the bank account easily.

Psalm 127:2
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.

The rest of Psalm 127 seems to shift gears and change its course upon first look. But as I ponder this psalm with my eyes on the rear-view mirror of my own life, I see the logic the Holy Spirit is applying in the order of this psalm.

Psalm 127:3-5
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! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

The lesson here is clear to me now. I wish I would have known this in my younger days. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with being a hard worker and going out every day to earn a living. It is good to provide for your family. But when we labor in our own strength and attempt to provide the best we can for our families, we fail our children in the greatest way.

If I had to do it all over, I would have put Jesus at the head of my household. I would have taught my children that without Him, we can do nothing. Without Jesus as the object of our pursuit of happiness, we simply live out a life of vanity. I would have spent more overtime on family devotions and prayer, and less on earning money. I would have taught my children that everything we need, is found in Christ.

This morning if you have a young family or you are preparing to start one, follow the counsel of God’s Word. Let Christ be the project manager and let Him provide the strength to build your house. If you are like me, old and living in the house you built, then begin a rebuilding project. Ask Jesus to help you remodel the house you dwell in. Do that and you will find rest for He gives His beloved sleep.

Slow down. Don’t get ahead of Jesus. Let Jesus build and guard your house. Anything else is just vanity.