“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!” (Psalm 128, ESV)
I find this psalm at once attractive and troubling. The assurance of blessing attracts me: “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord…thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.” Wife is healthy and vibrant, children are growing strong and lively, work is fruitful and profitable, city is bustling with activity and bursting with success, life is long and prosperous and full of joy. What more does anybody want? Actually, I am blessed in such a way as this, in particular with my family. I have a wife that Proverbs 31 just begins to describe and two sons who are, cliche as it sounds, pride and joy in my life.
But the psalm also troubles me, because I’m not so sure I am one “who walks in his (God’s) ways” with great precision or perseverance. And I know men and women of faith who don’t always have family put together or career on track or community thriving like this psalm describes. Is the psalmist wrong? – or merely half right? Or is my perspective blurred, my concept of blessing distorted?
Old Testament blessings are commonly cited to support erroneous claims that God intends a quantitatively, including materially, physically, and financially, better life for the godly than anyone else. But I think these blessings in the Hebrew Bible need to be squared with the blessings in the teaching of Jesus (see Matt. 5:3-12, Luke 6:17ff). Jesus pronounces blessing on those people and circumstances that we would hardly consider blessed or happy.
What helps me deal with the aspects of the psalm that trouble my theology is to consider what it says about God and what it says about the kind of person whose life is blessed. Starting with the latter, the psalm declares that the person who enjoys a happy life with God is the one “who walks in his ways” and “who fears the Lord.” Obedience, reverence – such are the qualities that bring one into the sphere of God’s blessing, however that blessing may take shape.
(And a happy wife with a smiling face, lots of energetic kids running around the house, a long life spent with my posterity – I’ll receive it with joy from God’s hand! – not because I deserve it, but because my God is good and gracious – not as a matter of personal merit, but a manifestation of divine mercy).
This leads to the former consideration of what the psalm says about God: he wants what is good for us! He desires our well-being, that our lives would flourish under his care and guidance, that his wholeness would make us whole persons who can extend his reign of peace, joy, and love to others.
The psalm ends with a blessing that extends beyond my personal experience of a blessed life with God to sharing the blessing, passing the peace, praying for the good of all others as they come to know the goodness of my God. As you pray this psalm, may you know more fully the Lord who is gracious and merciful, may you experience the blessing of his presence and provision, and may you live with obedient reverence towards God and generous love towards others as one who is truly, divinely, blessed.
Words of Light 