How We Build

These readings warn that a house may bear the Lord’s name and yet be built against Him. Micah sets up a private shrine and calls it religion; the elders in Ezekiel sit before the prophet while keeping chambers of abomination in secret; the Corinthians speak of Christ while envying and dividing. So a man may confess God with his mouth and yet fashion an idol with his hands, or with his habits, or with his pride.

The psalm teaches the remedy: the Lord must build the house and keep the city. Human labor is not denied, but purified. As Origen says, “that such a city suffered no injury from its enemies, we should not be wrong, it being understood that something also had been done by human means, but the benefit being gratefully referred to God who brought it to pass;” We rise, work, watch, marry, beget children, teach, and govern; yet if these are not ordered under God’s command, they become vain toil and, in time, judgment.

Therefore let each one examine what he is building into the temple of his life and into the church. The hidden room is not hidden. Tertullian writes, “the Lord said to me, Son of man, you have seen what the elders of Israel do, each one of them in darkness, each in a hidden bed-chamber: because they have said, The Lord sees us not;” But the Lord does see, and He tests every work. It is not enough to begin on the foundation of Christ; one must build with obedience, purity, peace, and steadfast labor. Cast down the household idol, close the secret chamber, and take care how you build.