The Gifts of the Father

Psalm 127
Waking up to the sing song voice of his young son, Adin looked around and watched his little
boy pitter patter around the room. Jonathan was excited. His boundless energy burst through his
tiny limbs into an explosion of running and playing.

“Come Papa! Let’s go. Come Papa!”

Adin smiled as Jonathan tugged at his hand. Today he promised to take his boy on “pilgrimage”
to the river. Even as he laughed at the non-stop antics of his son, he also teared. Jonathan was the
unexpected gift of HaShem. And Adin could only lift his heart in thanksgiving.

For many years, his wife’s womb remained closed. Barren. Empty. Dry and lifeless. The crushing
denial of children felt as though HaShem had stripped Adin of his heritage, his future.

What do you do when all your expectations fall, and HaShem is silent?

Born to a house of psalmists, Adin sang. He sang in the silence. He worshipped in the grief. His
ache, his longing, his emptiness became a set apart place, holy unto the Lord. In his music, he
bore the grief of Israel, he bore the ache of the fallen house of David, he bore the yearning of the
settlers to rebuild the land.

As a psalmist and as an astute leader, Adin traveled throughout Palestine in service of Ezra. He
would meet with city elders, bringing them copies of the newly arranged Tehillim to teach the
people in the communities throughout the land. If Israel was to learn the law of the Lord, they
must learn to sing the songs of the Lord.

So he traveled and taught and sang. But today he rested. Today he celebrated the gift that came to
him and his wife. Long after they assumed HaShem had closed her womb, she conceived. A son
was born. A song was born.

For Jonathan came with rejoicing in his limbs. Laughter in his feet. Music in his fingers. Dancing
in his eyes. And joy, joy unspeakable in his voice. HaShem remembered, and Adin rejoiced.

As Adin led Jonathan along the path to the river, he felt the boy leading him. Jonathan ran ahead,
looked back and ran further ahead.

“Come Papa!”

“Yes son. I am coming!”

As Adin ran toward his boy, he thought this is the kind of journey I’ve needed for a long while.
The last several months exhausted his body and mind. He was tired. Tired from walking day after
day after day. Tired from seeing a people who were slow to respond to the Lord’s commission.
Tired from watching for enemies in the land. He was tired.

The Gifts of the Father – Psalm 127, Doug Floyd, http://douglasfloyd.com, 1

Even as Adin sought to stir the people of the Lord to trust and faith in His covenant, Adin
wondered if he still trusted. Some days it seemed as though he ate the bread of anxious toil.
Rebuilding the land, restoring the house of David, reviving the law seemed too difficult in this
land of disrepair.

Yes, the Temple had been rebuilt, but the wall around Jerusalem, the Holy City, still lay in
shambles. The rich still oppressed the poor. The communities still seemed slow to hear and obey
the law of the Lord. The enemies in the land seemed too numerous and too fierce and too
seductive.

They threatened Israel with violence and compromise. Adin wondered how much he and Ezra’s
other servants could really do to overcome this opposition. With so much work to be done, Adin
sometimes wondered how the kingdom could really be restored.

“Come Papa!”

The energy of his bubbling boy burst into Adin’s distraction. Jonathan discovered a field of
wildflowers and was running, laughing and circling a flittering butterfly. Adin joined in the game
as they both chased the butterflies dancing above the flowered field. Father and son laughed and
ran and played until both their bodies gave way and they fell into the pool of blooms.

Jonathan’s little body curled up in his father’s arms and after just a few minutes he drifted off to
sleep. They had not reached the river yet, but this resting place served as a perfect pause in the
journey.

Gazing on his resting child, Adin rested as well. The boy was a gift. The field was a gift. The
flowers a gift. Everywhere Adin looked, he saw the gifts of HaShem. Deep in the wells of his
heart, Adin began to realize he was resting in the gift of HaShem. His work, his watchfulness, his
passion, were all gifts. But HaShem alone would rebuild his house. HaShem alone would restore
the land. HaShem alone could establish the kingdom.

Adin closed his eyes, listening to the gentle breath of his sleeping son.

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.
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.
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.

The Gifts of the Father – Psalm 127, Doug Floyd, http://douglasfloyd.com, 2

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. (Psalm 127)

The Gifts of the Father – Psalm 127, Doug Floyd, http://douglasfloyd.com, 3