Shownotes
In today’s episode of The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries, Stephanie Hickox walks through Psalms 111–118 and Psalm 127, uncovering timeless encouragement for Christian moms, families, and anyone longing to build their life on the firm foundation of Christ.
Together, we explore what it means to fear the Lord, trust God in seasons of uncertainty, and raise children for His glory rather than worldly achievement. Stephanie shares personal reflections about walking through fear during a health scare, the comfort of God’s Word in anxious moments, and the deep hope found in God’s steadfast love.
This episode especially encourages:
- Christian moms seeking biblical parenting wisdom
- Women walking through infertility or waiting on God
- Exhausted mothers in demanding caregiving seasons
- Families longing to build a Christ-centered home
- Believers who need reassurance that God hears their prayers
Today's Reading: Psalms 111-118, 127
Scripture Read or Referenced:
Psalm 111:1-2, 5, 10
Hebrews 10:25
Psalm 112:1-2, 6-8a
Psalm 113:7-9
Psalm 115 (all)
Psalm 116:1-2, 5-7
Psalm 117 (all)
Psalm 118:5-7, 22-23
2 Corinthians 1:20
Philippians 1:20
Psalm 127 (all)
Key passages include:
- Psalm 111 — “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”
- Psalm 112 — Trusting God when bad news comes
- Psalm 115 — “He is their help and their shield”
- Psalm 116 — God bends down to hear our prayers
- Psalm 118 — Jesus the Cornerstone
- Psalm 127 — “Unless the Lord builds the house…”
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
✨ Biblical motherhood and parenting
✨ Trusting God through fear and uncertainty
✨ Building a home centered on Christ
✨ God’s design for children and family
✨ Encouragement for infertility and special needs parenting
✨ Rest, anxiety, and God’s provision for weary moms
✨ The steadfast love of the Lord throughout every season
If this episode encouraged you, please follow, rate, and review the podcast to help more women and families discover biblical encouragement and Christ-centered parenting resources.
#ChristianMom #BiblicalMotherhood #Psalm127 #ChristianParenting #BibleStudyPodcast #FaithBasedParenting #ChristianEncouragement #EntrustedMinistries #StephanieHickox #ChristianFamily #PsalmsStudy #MotherhoodAndFaith
Learn more about the ministry and additional resources at Entrusted Ministries
Listen, subscribe, and share The Dwelling Place Podcast to encourage more women and families with biblical truth, Christian discipleship, and gospel-centered motherhood.
Do you feel hopeless, discouraged, or anxious in your parenting? Can God redeem those mistakes and give peace and hope for the future? Yes, He truly can! Entrusted with a Child's Heart can encourage you to embrace the fresh start God has for you. This quick episode explains how this biblical parenting study can guide moms, bless your church, and actually help the leaders! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-for-christian-moms-encouragement-in/id1700555502
Don't forget to check out the Again Podcast! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-again-podcast-for-christian-moms-encouragement-in/id1700555502
Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary, Spurgeon's Treasury of David
Transcripts
This is the Drawing Place from Entrusted Ministries.
2
:I'm Stephanie Hickox, and today we'll
be looking together at nine brief
3
:psalms from Psalm 111 to 118 and Psalm
127, which happens to include the
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:theme verse for our entire ministry.
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:So there will be plenty that
will connect to parenting today.
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:Psalm 111 has a beautiful
focus on the works of God.
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:It begins, " Praise the Lord.
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:I will give thanks to the Lord with
my whole heart, in the company of
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:the upright, in the congregation.
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:Great are the works of the Lord,
studied by all who delight in them."
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:It goes on to say
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:That God provides food for those
who fear Him and ends with a
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:principle we've often talked about.
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:The fear of the Lord is
the beginning of wisdom.
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:All those who practice it
have a good understanding.
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:His praise endures forever
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:The first verse reminds me how important
it is to have fellowship with believers.
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:as Hebrews tells us, " Do not
forsake the meeting of the saints."
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:The Christian walk is not intended to
live in isolation and throughout the world
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:We're encouraged to come together to spur
one another on to be faithful to the Lord
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:Psalm 112 continues the idea of the
blessedness of the fear of the Lord.
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:" Praise the Lord.
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:Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
who greatly delights in His commandments.
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:His offspring will be mighty
in the land; the generation of
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:the upright will be blessed."
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:Did you know you can greatly
delight in God's commands?
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:It's when we know that His rules
are for our good and our protection
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:We can bless our offspring with that
teaching Even though my husband makes
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:fun of my family because we use this
word too much Psalm 112 verses six
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:through eight are really precious to me.
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:About two years ago, I felt an
undeniable growth under my ribcage.
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:After an ultrasound confirmed that there
was indeed a spot on my liver, the doctor
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:recommended I have an MRI to determine
if the area was cancerous or not.
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:The verses God put on my heart
to meditate on were " for the
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:righteous will never be moved.
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:He will be remembered forever.
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:He is not afraid of bad news.
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:His heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
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:His heart is steady.
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:He will not be afraid."
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:I picked these verses because of the
steadfast faith that's indicated,
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:but I had to have a little giggle
with the Lord when I was inside that
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:tunnel because they told me that I
had to be still and not move at all.
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:I thought it was so funny that
the Lord had led me to pick
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:those verses that began, " The
righteous will never be moved."
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:And I felt God's nearness that
He would even provide me with joy
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:in the midst of a scary situation
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:Psalm 113 through 118
are the Egyptian Hallel.
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:Hallel means praise in Hebrew
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:And hallelujah means praise the Lord.
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:Calling them the Egyptian Hallel does not
mean that they were of Egyptian descent,
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:but that together these psalms praise
God's deliverance from Egypt, which made
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:them the perfect psalms for the Jewish
people to have meditated upon during
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:their feasts, and particularly on Passover
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:It's probably Psalm 118 that
Jesus himself recited right
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:before leaving the upper room
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:After the Last Supper I particularly
love at the end of 1:13, " He
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:raises the poor from the dust and
lifts the needy from the ash heap
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:To make them sit with princes
and with princes of his people.
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:He gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children
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:I know that there's many
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:That pray to that end
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:And I want it for you too.
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:Whenever I read a Bible verse that
puts a worship song in my head, I put
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:a little musical note in my Bible.
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:And Psalm 115 will probably kick off one
for you too It gives a detailed account
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:of why the other nations' idols are so
helpless, and I think it has something
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:particularly encouraging for you as a mom.
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:So I'll read it in its entirety.
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:" Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your
name give glory, for the sake of your
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:steadfast love and your faithfulness.
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:Why should the nations
say, " Where is their God?"
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:Our God is in the heavens.
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:He does all that he pleases
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:Their idols are silver and
gold, the work of human hands.
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:They have mouths, but do not speak.
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:Eyes, but do not see.
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:They have ears, but do not hear.
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:Noses, but do not smell.
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:They have hands, but do not feel.
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:Feet, but do not walk.
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:And they do not make a
sound in their throat.
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:Those who make them become like them.
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:So do all who trust in them.
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:Oh, Israel, trust in the Lord.
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:He is their help and their shield.
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:Oh, house of Aaron, trust in the Lord.
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:He is their help and their shield.
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:You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord.
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:He is their help and their shield.
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:The Lord has remembered us.
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:He will bless us.
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:He will bless the house of Israel.
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:He will bless the house of Aaron.
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:He will bless those who fear the Lord,
both the small and the great May the Lord
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:give you increase, you and your children.
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:May you be blessed by the Lord
who made heaven and earth.
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:The heavens are the Lord's
heavens, but the earth He has
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:given to the children of man.
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:The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any who go down into silence,
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:but we will bless the Lord from
this time forth and forevermore.
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:Praise the Lord
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:Aren't you so reassured by that
threefold repetition that God
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:is our help and our shield?
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:And I'm sure you heard that promise that
God will bless you and your children
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:And that he blesses those who fear him
See, that idea is all over His word
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:Moving on to Psalm 116, these
initial verses are so sweet to me.
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:" I love the Lord because He has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
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:Because He inclined His ear
to me, therefore I will call
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:on Him as long as I live."
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:The New Living Translation recounts,
" Because He bends down to listen, I
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:will pray as long as I have breath."
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:One of my friends gave me a necklace that
represents this verse and it has a little
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:bend in it It's been such a treasure
that reminds me That this God that is
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:powerful enough to do as he pleases,
that he listens to my prayers, and it's
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:an honor and a privilege to come before
him I recently mentioned this verse as
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:we talked about Uriah, but Psalm 116:15
tells us, " Precious in the sight of
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:the Lord is the death of his saints."
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:And if not a sparrow falls to the
ground without God noticing, how much
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:more is that true of His children?
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:Verse 17 reminds us that although praise
can be difficult to give, God is worthy.
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:I will offer to you the
sacrifice of thanksgiving and
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:call upon the name of the Lord.
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:Even in those days where it's hard
to rejoice in what God is doing
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:He is honored by that sacrifice of praise.
126
:If you've ever wanted to say that
you memorized an entire chapter
127
:of scripture, I think Psalm 117
has your name written on it.
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:" Praise the Lord, all nations.
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:Extol Him, all peoples, for great is
His steadfast love toward us and the
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:faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
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:Praise the Lord."
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:That's it.
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:I think you should go for it Psalm 118
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:has repetition of, "For his
steadfast love endures forever."
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:A couple verses that really stood
out to me are five through seven
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:Out of my distress I called on the Lord.
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:The Lord answered me and set me free.
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:The Lord is on my side, I will not fear.
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:What can man do to me?
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:the Lord is on my side as my helper.
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:Psalm 118:23 was my wedding verse.
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:" This is the Lord's doing.
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:It is marvelous in our eyes."
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:And that's because neither my
husband nor I were interested in
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:each other at all, and the Lord had
to completely change our hearts.
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:We've always said that we have
an arranged marriage, but not
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:by our parents, by the Lord
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:So much more pivotal than any
human union is the way that
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:verses twenty-two and twenty-three
point to our Lord Jesus Christ.
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:The stone that the builders
rejected has become the cornerstone.
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:This is the Lord's doing.
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:It is marvelous in our eyes.
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:Jesus is a firm foundation and
the cornerstone of our faith.
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:All the promises of God are yes
and amen in Him And with that firm
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:foundation in mind, let's turn our
attention to Psalm one twenty seven.
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:Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
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:Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
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:It is in vain that you rise up
early and go late to rest, eating
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:the bread of anxious toil, for
He gives to His beloved sleep.
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:Behold, children are a heritage from the
Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
161
:Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one's youth.
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:Blessed is the man who
fills his quiver with them.
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:He shall not be put to shame when he
speaks with his enemies in the gate
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:In this agrarian society
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:Children were really necessary
to continue their livelihood
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:And just as arrows are essential for
battle, children were essential to
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:help protect parents as they got older.
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:And when there were disputes grown
children could sit at the gate
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:attesting to the character of their
parents and putting to silence any
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:accusations that rose against them
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:this psalm is one of
two written by Solomon.
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:As he's the man God called to build
His temple, we should listen when he
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:says, " Unless the Lord builds the
house, those who build it labor in vain."
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:And I wanna caution us against being
deceived into having visions for our
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:kids that the Lord didn't inspire.
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:Is it our every hope and expectation that
Christ would be glorified in their lives?
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:Or are we also holding onto hopes
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:Of college acceptance letters, athletic
accolades, and theatrical achievements.
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:Every talent can bring God
glory, but if any of it is done
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:for ourselves, it's in vain.
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:The Lord cautions us against building
on such a shaky, unsteady surface
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:This week I got to delight with a family
member as they welcomed another baby.
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:They had to contend for the
blessing of children, and it
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:was a long, difficult journey.
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:but I am rejoicing in a
quiver full of arrows.
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:Children are absolutely one of God's
greatest gifts to us, and the best
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:thing we can do to show our gratitude
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:is to point them to him
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:Let's pray.
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:Heavenly Father
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:You are a firm, steadfast, unshakable
foundation on which we can build.
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:We thank you that your word consistently
guides us and lovingly convicts us, and
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:we pray your Holy Spirit would be at work
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:Speaker 62: cautioning
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:Speaker 63: us against building upon
things that are void of eternal value
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:Help us to see our children as a reward
from you and a blessing and an honor.
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:I pray particularly for the
moms struggling with infertility
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:That you would give them
the desire of their hearts.
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:I also lift up those struggling with
the intensity of caregiving for children
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:with health issues or special needs.
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:For the moms that are exhausted and
feeling really disheartened as they
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:read that you give your beloved
sleep, Lord, I ask that you would
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:help them endure well for this season.
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:Give them wisdom to make any
adjustments that are needed
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:But we pray that you would supernaturally
help all those kiddos that aren't sleeping
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:well, and allow those moms to get the
rest that you designed to restore them
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:Thank you that you bend
your ear to hear us
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:It's in the name of the true
cornerstone, Jesus Christ, we pray.
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:Amen
