THE BLESSING OF FEAR (Psalm 128)

Psalms 127 and 128 are twin psalms. They have a very common tone and themes because both psalms, songs of degrees, deal with the family. They hit very close to home because they show how God works in a life and in a family when He is in His rightful place.

Psalm 128 begins with the word “blessed.” Isn’t that a great place to start? Psalm 1 began the same way, and God is really showing us the way to blessing all through the psalms.

Verse 1 of this psalm shows one of the open secrets of the blessed life. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.” The blessing of God is connected to the fear of God.

Typically, we would not think of fear and blessing being connected, but God says they are. This is not the fear of man, circumstances, or danger. It is a healthy and holy fear of God — not that He would hurt me, but that I would hurt Him.

This fear is closely akin to my love for the Lord; I love Him so much that I do not want to grieve Him. I stand in awe of Him with a heart full of worship. Because of that attitude, I want to live my life for Him.

Remember the second part of verse 1: “that walketh in his ways.” That is what naturally grows out of the fear of God. When your heart is where it ought to be, your life will be there as well.

I’m afraid sometimes we try to get people to live right when their hearts are not right. We are trying to get people to live like Christians when they aren’t even Christians, and then those who are Christians have hearts filled with sin. No, it begins with the fear of the Lord; when you have that, you will walk in His ways. This is the essence of the blessed life.

The rest of the psalm describes what that life looks like and all the fruit that grows out of being where you ought to be with the Lord.

Verse 2: “For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.” What a beautiful verse. Don’t you want to live like that? It all begins with the blessing of the fear of the Lord.

Life

If you fear and follow the Lord like you should, He will bless your life. I want my life to be blessed. There is no substitute for the blessing of God. It is not about what you can produce or someone else can do for you. Only the Lord can do it when we fear Him.

Family

In verse 3, it starts to ripple beyond your life to that of your family. Remember that your decisions to follow the Lord have lasting implications not only for you but also for those you love — for your generation and the next.

“Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.” Every member of the family is blessed. There is an emphasis on fruitfulness, and the growth is greater than just in number. There is a spiritual growth and blessing that God puts on a family that fears Him.

Let me challenge you today to fear the Lord and then teach your family to do the same thing. Teach them to reverence Him and stand in awe of who He is. Talk about spiritual things around the table when you are having a meal together as a family. Don’t let the conversation always be about lesser things. Keep the Lord in His rightful place in your home.

Verse 4: “Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord.” This is a restating of the blessing in verse 1. When something is repeated this closely in the Bible, it is meant for us to pay special attention to it and not miss it. If you want a blessed life, fear God.

Work of the Lord

The blessing of the work of the Lord is addressed in verses 5-6. “The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.”

Now, we see God dealing with the entire nation. Zion is a reference to the place where the Temple was. This means the blessing comes out of God’s presence.

The great need of our nation right now is to have some men who will fear God again. We need families to fear the Lord and children to be taught the importance of it.

People do not seek the Lord until they fear the Lord. They do not turn from their sin or have right priorities until they fear the Lord. We read in Romans 3:18 a sure sign of ungodly people: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

That sounds like the world we are living in today. What is the answer? For your life, your family, and the nation, we need some people who will fear God again.

The goal is not the blessing. The goal is God Himself. But when you seek and fear God, He will naturally give the blessing like a tidal wave of mercy and a recurring fountain of goodness. The blessing not only comes to you but flows through you and into the lives of others.

Do you want the Lord to bless you and your family? Go back upstream to the fountainhead and the foundation principle: “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.”

We all need moments of spiritual renewal and rededication from time to time. Would you do that today and be counted among the “every one” in Psalm 128:1? Determine that you will fear the Lord and walk in His ways so you can be blessed and also be a channel of blessing for other people.