The Songs Of Ascent – Part 10 – Psalm 128 – The Blessing Of The Lord With Flow On Results. Fear The Lord! Series

THE SONGS OF ASCENT – PART 10 – PSALM 128 – THE BLESSING OF THE LORD WITH FLOW ON RESULTS. FEAR THE LORD!

PSALM 128:0 A SONG OF ASCENTS. BLESSING IN EVERY VERSE

[A]. INTRODUCTION

This is such a mixed Psalm dealing mostly with blessing but the whole of it must depend on verse 1. The Psalmist states the fixed security and truth of the opening verse as if nailing it to the wall, then listing under it a series of blessings that would follow on from that opening verse.

One of the problems is that in the reality of life we do not always see such a list of blessings flowing for the righteous ones of verse 1. It is almost as if this is an idealistic Psalm. The Psalm very much relates to a rural setting before taking a quick look at Jerusalem in verse 5. We will attempt to make sense out of this because the promises of God stand sure, and nothing will ever detract from the special union God has with His own children of faith, even though all may not enter into the seamless blessings set out in the psalm.

[B]. THE FEAR OF THE LORD LEADS TO WALKING IN HIS WAYS

{{Psalm 128:1 “How blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways.”}}

Just looking at the verse we see three words that are quite common in the Psalms, namely “blessed, fear/fears, walks”. One thing about the book of Psalms, it its consistency. The Psalms are the song book we know, but more than that I have found that in every situation of life there is at least one Psalm that relates to my emotion, be that distress, fear, trouble, deliverance, joy or needing to cast myself on the Lord. God has given us a remarkable collection of inspired words to meet every condition.

The blessing spoken of seems dependent upon two actions. The first is fear (of the Lord) and the second is “walks in His way”. Those two actions are related and don’t really exist in isolation.

THE FEAR OF THE LORD

There is a very important concept in the bible that must transfer into daily living in God’s presence. In fact without this truth it is useless to proceed any further. Human beings will either stand on their own reasoning before God, or they will willingly and humbly accept God’s only standard.

We have a fundamental verse here to look at (two verses in different wording) – {{Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”}} The second one is this – {{Proverbs 9:10 “THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”}} Meditate and appropriate this to yourself. And understand it - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. That is our starting point with God. You can not approach God in arrogance or human wisdom which is really foolishness with God. It must be in reverential fear.

But what is that, you might well ask. It means a proper, godly respect and humility. We recognise God as the all-powerful Creator and Sustainer of the universe, a God of love and compassion, but who is also a God of justice and retribution.

We have a modern curse in the world today totally capturing the minds of young people. It is called gaming – computer games often full of demonic themes and occult practices. The imagery is terrible with grossly distorted faces and figures, slanted eyes, and gods of vengeance and spells to overcome, and all that, full of demonic figures. Is it little wonder the world has no concept of a loving God and One of AWE and REVERENCE, high and lifted up. Satan wants us to fear vengeful gods.

To walk in the fear of God is not being scared out of your wits or trembling. It is faith and love and respect and such wonderful peace. Once we recognise who God is and give Him His rightful, holy place, then we start to understand the fear of the Lord. {{Psalm 111:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever”}} ? It is also reinforcing our previous verses.

The wording that opens verse 1 in all translations except three of them, begins with “Blessed” while the NASB and Holman and the International Standard Version put a “How” in front, possibly to strengthen “Blessed,” as the word “Blessed” is an interjection. It is as if God is emphasising the word as in “HOW REALLY BLESSED!” The Lord does not want us to miss out on this blessing so we must heed the remainder of the verse.