Psalm 128

This next Psalm of Ascents is a simple illustration, a description of how God blesses those who walk in His ways.  I heard a phrase in a teaching recently that I think is appropriate here: this is a description, not a prescription.

The Psalmist is using imagery from that day and age of what it looks like to be blessed.  Let us not fall into the trap of comparing our lives directly with this passage.  Simple examples could be, “Well, I’m not married, so I am not blessed.” Or, “well, he doesn’t have children, so clearly he isn’t walking in the ways of the Lord.”  Rather, this psalm is stating more like what Jesus said in Matthew 5:6

Blessed are the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be satisfied.

An even greater temptation to judge and compare is if we find ourselves in a tumultuous spot in life and consider, “I did everything right, why is my life in turmoil?”  Job could have said the same thing!  He could have considered that his difficult circumstances, losing all of his “blessings,” were a result of not living right with God, although God pointed out that he was righteous:

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright and God-fearing and turning away from evil. ² And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. ³ Then his livestock came to be seven thousand sheep and goats and three thousand camels and five hundred pairs of oxen and five hundred female donkeys, and he had very many slaves, and that man was greater than all the people of the east.

⁸ So Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you _⌊considered_⌋ my servant Job? Indeed, there is no one like him on the earth—a blameless man and upright and God-fearing and turning away from evil.”

Let us first not judge our own righteousness or the righteousness of others based on physical circumstances!  This is too shortsighted.  There will be blessings, reprieves, and provisions for us in this life physically.  The psalmist even prays a blessing at the end of the psalm, that the righteous person would experience the prosperity of Jerusalem (i.e. the land they live in) and even peace throughout the land.  But what if we don’t?  What does that say about us?

The key here is not the blessing itself, but the relationship one has with God Almighty. If we grow closer to God just so we can be blessed and live in prosperity, then we are missing the point…and the blessing itself!  The true blessing is being close to God.  When we are, our present circumstances don’t matter as much.  Our gifts we are given in this present world pale in comparison to the eternal gift of knowing God our Father.  Why?  Because this cannot be taken away!

It has been said that when we die, the hearse will not have a U-Haul trailer attached to it, carrying with us all of our earthly treasures.  The imagery itself might cause us to chuckle, but it highlights how we view life and what we consider blessings.  What if, instead of gauging our level of blessing on the material things we own and the size of our family, we gauge it upon our closeness with God?

The psalmist doesn’t say, “blessed is he who has a fertile wife and many children.”  Rather, he states that the blessing is one who fears the Lord!  The relationship itself is the blessing.  Sure, we can benefit from the relationship on a temporary level with a decent house, clothes, and a big family.  However, the true blessing is in verse 6: peace.  Peace in this life, despite our external world.  We saw Job exemplify this.  He was in turmoil, yes, but his hope was in God because of the relationship he had with Him.

If we do not feel this peace, then we must lean in.  Let us not be distracted by our physical circumstances, but rather take joy in the Lord.  The fact that despite our sufferings, He still loves us and is with us.  Let us continue to walk in His ways and fear Him, because this is where our peace and joy come from!