Psalm 128 ~ Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

Psalm 128

Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
    who walks in his ways!
² You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
    you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

³ Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
    within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
    around your table.
⁴ Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
    who fears the Lord.

⁵  The Lord bless you from Zion!
    May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
    all the days of your life!
⁶ May you see your children's children!
     Peace be upon Israel!

Psalm 128 is completely a Psalm of blessing. Which is strange to our worldly generation - fear........ no, not fear. But fear is in this short Psalm - twice. In fact, I never noticed it before and usually read the Psalm with joy. 437 times the word 'fear' is used in both the Old and New Testaments. 269 times anger is used.  Add angry in and you find more....

So, He probably didn't mean 'fear' and we can discard it..... Man shall live on every Word of GOD.  A friend of mine at Needlepoint was asking about fear in the Scriptures, she said she joined her Church at age 10 because she really meant to please an angry God who would send her to hell.  And one of our group is a Baptist pastor's wife. I said, this is what I think of when I think of fearing God: 

Psalm 111:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

I grew up going to Morning Prayer as part of school. My grandmother Anita gave me a children's condensed Bible of the Old Testament. It was an easy reader and I sat down one Sunday afternoon at age 7 to read it. I read a lot. And it was a play by play of all the major Acts of GOD. And I finished it and Thought, "OH MY GOD."  Nobody said this Guy was scary.  "And..... He can HEAR me.  Um. No, GOD, I am sure You are a Nice GOD. Um. Really. OH MY GOD.  So, You are a little scary. C'mon, You can hear me. Um. Thinking about what all what the Episcopal Priests said..... See. I get it..... think, think, think.  Oh, Yeah. God of LOVE.  And fear............... is the beginning of wisdom."  And I was better.

I went to School that week and asked Mrs. Frost.  Who'd believe their parents on that one? So, Mrs. Frost explained really, a lot of people who love the LORD go through this. The important thing to remember is God gave us JESUS because HE wants us to know HE LOVES us.

So the 437 times. He probably wasn't being poeti, even if Psalm 128 is actually a Temple song of ascents; it is the Holy Spirit inspiring us to Hear with our ears. And our friend at Church said, but we are Church who love to proclaim GOD is LOVE. And the Baptist Pastor's wife said, fear becomes another word for reverence. Whereupon people looked a bit confused. Like the Catholic Church saying Jesus' brothers and sisters were actually His cousins.  Hey, don't get angry, realize the word for brothers and sisters is brothers and sisters and John the Baptist's cousin was cousin. No one had the courage to change the word even during the Middle Ages.

So in reality. God is telling us.. He is in control. We have wanted to be God since......Genesis Chapter 3.  We want to decide what is Good and Evil. And God says, He is the boundary. He is the WAY, the LIFE and the TRUTH.

Like Kosher, people even today love to make fun of Kosher.  Kosher enabled the slaves of Egypt to give birth to a nation. Fulfilling God's promise to Abram.  And allowing the people in the desert to give birth for 40 years. Allowing King David to live to be old, and showing us in the Iron Age, 50 year olds take better care of their families than the non-kosher people living in their 20s.  Like Psalm 128. My family was better off because my Aunt Clarice lived to be 94. Aunt Eloise 94. Grandmother Anita 94.  My husband's uncle. 94. He was an example of generosity and family loyalty.  A lot of my Grandmother Anita's family lived to be in their 90s, as well as her mother living to be 100. She fed her family a noon day lunch for about 12-14 people for 80 years.

My own family wasn't good about being around the table unless we are dining out (my husband's family said their best dining experiences were actually dining out and he Loved that tradition)), but we have a lot of good memories with gathering together there. And holidays when all of the Church family came. 

Going back to the part we all love, Blessings. God says the people who see a God given road map, keep on the path - supporting each other in love. And He acknowledges something Jesus told us about ourselves and mankind. And if you don't realize this, you probably will one day:

John 2:25

Jesus needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Taking us to a larger part of Psalm 128. We are invited, to sit at the Table. The Banquet Table Jesus spoke of several times.  God knew when He invited Aaron to come in and splash animal blood around the Holy of Holies, that Aaron would only come in for the blessing. And Aaron is an analogy  no one is Pure enough for the LORD. Jesus says, I am the Prodigal's Father. Running to you when you certainly deserved only to fear. So really. Forget the fear. 437 times God uses fear to explain to us our nature and the rest of all of the 80 Books, roughly, 1,000 pages of the Bible, ratified by men who risked death to proclaim JESUS IS LORD, are witnessing to God being a GOD OF LOVE. Who - in Psalm 128 - reminds us, we are God's Family.



Nehemiah 8:10
Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”



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