Bread Of Affliction : Laboring in Vain

What Is the bread of anxious toil mentioned in the book of Psalms 127 : 2. One can be working and appear as though they are fruitful and productive but yet you can sense the frustration they have due to their work or business.  Many though they are working they are frustrated  due to workplace pressures. The bible in that passage of scripture says , "It is vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, whilst  eating the bread of anxious toil; and concludes by stating for he gives to his beloved sleep." Many people though they are working it seems their work has become the reason for some of the difficulties  and struggles they are dealing with .  

Let's look at the beginning of Psalm 127 which says, "Unless the Lord builds a house, those who build it labor in vain." So one  can build, but their labor is in vain because they  are building without God  or trying to establish something outside of Gods plan for their lives. 

God surely wants us to be productive, but He knows we can only be fully productive in the specific areas he has prepared for us or within his purpose for our lives.  Many Christians live frustrated lives because they are building without God. The Bible says, "Unless the Lord builds the house." So, how does God build that house? God builds the house by instructing us or releasing us into the purpose He has given us. You can be working, but what you are doing may not be what God has assigned you to do.  

The Bible is not denying that one can  build,  it is saying that thing would be built in vain . In the Book of Proverbs 10:20, the blessing of the Lord adds no sorrow . So, meaning that one can have a form of blessing, but it carries sorrow and frustration. One can build, but there is sorrow, Yet the blessing of the Lord adds no sorrow. So there is a blessing that is of God, there is a building that is in God that carries in it the blessing of the favor of God.

 Let's look at Jacob, Jacob worked for years to build a beautiful family, but he got to a point where he said, "Lord bless me," because he realized all the things that he had worked for were not secure. There was nothing that would protect him from what was about to happen, so he sought God because he understood that it was only God who could protect and preserve all that he had worked for. 

Many of you assume your effort alone is the reason why you prosper, but effort outside of God leads to frustration. So the Bible is saying that the blessing of God does not add sorrow. Some  that are wealthy are frustrated and sorrowful, why? Because of the bread of anxiety. So the key to building, establishing anything is to seek the heart of God. The Bible says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." What is His righteousness? It is standing in the place where He has called you to stand, standing  in the place where He has ordained for you to produce. The Bible says, commit your works  to the Lord and He will establish your plans, not His plans, but your plan. So from today, seek His face concerning your  work, your family, your children, even your protection, in Jesus' name.

God bless you