To the one who fears God and lives faithfully, immeasurable blessings await.
This is the message of Psalm 128, and worth our consideration here at the start of another school year.
First, here are all six verses of the psalm:
Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways!
You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the Lord.
The Lord bless you from Zion!
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life!
May you see your children’s children!
Peace be upon Israel!
The first week of school, we sang this psalm (Blessed the Man That Fears Jehovah) four times as a group, because I want this to be a theme for the school (whether officially or otherwise). It is a fantastic tone-setter for our days and our lives, and the message (mentioned above) is simple:
To the one who fears God and lives faithfully, immeasurable blessings await.
These sorts of blessings cannot be purchased, but they’re common in the home of the faithful. For instance:
- A full belly as the result of hard work (v. 2).
- A flourishing wife and children (v. 3).
- The blessing of our community (v. 5).
- Watching our grandchildren grow up (v. 6).
We want the Raggants thinking generationally, so we study the labors, victories and failures of past generations, all with thankfulness. We also want for them to realize they have a job to do in this culture as they represent Christ in the world and as they serve their own families. This helps them to think about generations that will follow them.
We have over forty households represented at ECS, and it’s my prayer that they would all look like the vignette in Psalm 128. One day soon our eighty students will represent more than seventy (note the probable overlap as some may well combine) households of their own and they will grow up knowing this reality: To the one who fears God and lives faithfully, immeasurable blessings await. What would Snohomish County look like if it included seventy more Christian households with men laboring diligently, wives thriving like vines, children sprouting up like olive shoots, and grateful grandparents looking on with a smile?
Our changing of the culture will no doubt begin around our own dinner tables.
So with that in mind, let us fear God, live faithfully, and sing Psalm 128…a lot.
Risus est bellum.
Jonathan