NISI DOMINUS FRUSTRA

“Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.”

-Psalm 127:1

In Alvin Toffler’s book, Future Shock, a young woman is sent to the supermarket and returns a half-hour later, thoroughly perplexed. “The supermarket must have been torn down,” she says, “I couldn’t find it.

Not only have the demolition merchants of the twentieth century been tearing down old buildings and disposing of old technology; the tumblers of the social revolution have been carting off family after family to the scrap heap.

The city of Edinburgh has a very old Latin motto which reads, Nisi Dominus, Frustra. It means, “Unless the Lord… in vain.” The English word frustration comes from the same word, “frustra”. We could well put it, “Unless the Lord… frustration.” That is where a lot of families are today.

That old motto was coined from the words of Psalm 127:1 which says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches the city, frustration of a society guard in vain.” It simply pictures the frustration of a society in which God has been pushed away.

There is no way that we can stop progress. But we contend that we have to bring back some of the old ways. The Prophet Jeremiah said, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest in your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16).

What made some of those old days great? Was it family cohesiveness of the security and warmth of a simple meal with all of the family present? Was it the joy and laughter of children who did not have much but did not want much either? Was it the warmth of a home where Daddy loved Mother, and Mother loved him, too? We learn too late that the new and glamorous is not necessarily better.