In a post recently, I mentioned that fearing the Lord is one of the criterions for experiencing great happiness. Psalm 128, a psalm about family life, enumerates these blessings.
God states that the man (the husband and father) that fears the Lord and follows in His ways will receive the following blessings.
1. He enjoys the fruit of his labor (verse 2). He is a hard-working man who takes responsibility to provide for his family. He provides sufficiently for his wife to be in the home. He knows that he can’t afford for her to leave the home. His children are too precious to be given to someone else to care for.
2. He enjoys the blessings of his wife being in the home (verse 3). He is at peace because he knows his children are nurtured, trained, and guarded by his wife at home. They are not left to the others who do not have the same principles to shape their lives.
3. He enjoys the blessings of coming home to a wife who is in the heart of her home (verse 3). He comes home to a lovely meal that his wife has ready and waiting for him. He enjoys the blessing of sitting around the table with his wife and children where they interact and talk together about the day’s happenings. He is happy that he not only blesses his children with food and fellowship but feeds their inner man and read God’s Word to them.
4. He enjoys watching his children growing up--healthy, vigorous, and full of life.
5. The Israeli man sees “the good of Jerusalem” all the days of his life (verse 5). If more and more families would embrace the lifestyle of this psalm, we will also see “the good of our nation.” We cannot expect God’s blessings unless we walk in His ways.
6. He embraces the promise that he will enjoy the blessings of grandchildren (verse 6).
7. And lastly, he enjoys peace in his home and in the land (verse 6).
God uses the word “esher” meaning “extra happy” three times in this psalm, plus He uses the word “blessed” two times. It’s filled with God blessings for families that walk in His ways.
The picture God paints in this psalm of the family that He wants to bless is different to the lifestyle in many homes today, even Christian homes. However, no matter how much we think we know better than God, our human wisdom is foolishness. It’s only God’s ways that bring His ultimate blessings.
Love from Nancy Campbell