Scripture Devotion
Not just that you'd do the work — that God would establish it, make it last.
“And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou.”
Reflection
The prayer asks for two things, and the second is asked twice. First, the beauty of the LORD upon us — that something of him would rest visibly on the people and their doing. Then, the request that gives the verse its weight: establish thou the work of our hands. Establish — make it stand, make it last, give it permanence beyond the doing of it. And it's repeated, bookending the line: establish the work of our hands... the work of our hands establish thou. The doubling is the heart's insistence — the deep wish that the work not be in vain, not wash away, but stand. On a Monday, facing a week of work with your own two hands, this is the prayer to pray over it: not just that you'd do the work, but that God would establish it — make what you build with him last beyond you.