October 5, 2026 - Children from the Lord
“Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves. Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.”
Psalms 127:1-5 NIV
This morning I read this while at a DVULI Youth Leadership workshop and it spoke to me on a whole new level. As I have been learning about ways to create sustainable youth ministries we need to remember the most important thing.
We can do everything right. We can have all the resources and all the help and all the great ideas but if we are trying to do it in our own power we "labor in vain". First, we need to allow the Lord to build the house of our ministries. We can worry about the young people in our communities and go out of our way to help them and protect them but if we are doing it in our own power that too will be in vain. We can sacrifice our time to the point of exhaustion to find all the funding and donations to feed an entire community but if we had made our love for the Lord to be the most important thing He would give us rest.
I often refer to my youth group kids as my kids. And one of the original leaders for our group who had not been able to have children of his own was told by God not to worry He would give them plenty of children. He was in youth ministry long enough to have had over 1000 children, I am sure. And I currently have 2 leaders who are in the same position. They were not blessed with children of their own, but they sure do see our youth group kids as a blessing.
Sure, we have a tendency to look at the numbers in attendance as being the measuring rod for the success of a youth program, but I see that even one child is a blessing. Look at all the descendants that came from one son of Abraham. Of course, we want our quiver to be full because they will be warriors for Christ if we put them in His hands. If we are faithful to Christ and teach them truth and prepare them for the spiritual battle that they are bound to face, they will not be put to shame when challenged.
Again, He reminds me that He is the most important thing in everything I do.
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