DUNCAN/The blessed fear
If you have your Bible, I’d invite you to open them with me to psalm 128. As you do, glance up to the one preceding it. Psalm 127 reminds us of the source of all blessing and reminds us of our total dependence upon God for the enjoyment of those blessings while Psalm 128 reminds us of where it is that we experience those true blessings. In this psalm, the psalmist speaks again of an idealized picture of the enjoyment of God’s blessing in at least four areas — In our work, in our marriage, with our children, and in the church.
Happiness is Found in the Fear of the Lord
The psalm begins, “Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD.” The psalmist is telling us right at the very beginning something that the world and the flesh and the devil all deny. The psalmist is telling us that the place to experience true happiness, the home address of true joy, the place where we find ultimate satisfaction is in the fear of the Lord. The world finds satisfaction not in piety, not in the worship of God, not in walking according to His commandments, but in doing what we want to do. In following our own desires, seeking the fulfillment of our own pleasures.
Billy Joel released an album in 1977 called “The Stranger” that produced many No.1 hits and one of the songs on that album was called, “Only the Good Die Young,” and it had in it the immortal line: “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints; the sinners are much more fun.” That is exactly what the serpent said to Eve. That is exactly what the devil says to us today. If we want to know true joy, deep happiness, real blessedness, we’ve got to do it our way. We’ve got to break God’s law. We’ve got to pursue whatever pleasure, whatever desire it is we want, no matter what the Lord says. Then we’ll find what we really want. And the psalmist is challenging that and saying that is not true. Instead, the psalmist is arguing that the very place where joy is found is in obedience to God’s commandments. The psalmist knows that like Jesus, God’s people endure suffering in this world, but even amid these difficult circumstances, the foretastes of heaven are real, and they are better than anything that any worldling ever experiences. “Solid joys and lasting treasures none but Zion’s children know.” The place where happiness is enjoyed is in the fear of the Lord.
The Fear of the Lord is Expressed in Living
The second thing that we learn, and you see it in the second half of verse 1, is what the fear of the Lord looks like in our lives. The fear of the Lord is not just a set of beliefs. You know, it’s not just saying, “Well I believe in the Apostles Creed” or “I ascent to a basic evangelical set of beliefs.” Listen to the language of verse 1. “Blessed is everyone who walks in His ways.” The fear of the Lord is more than just an inner attitude. It is expressed in the way that we live our lives.
The worldling says, “No, no, no, the way to live is to walk your own way.” In Isaiah 53, the prophet says, “All we like sheep have gone astray, everyone to his own way.” And the only remedy from the disaster that was made by mankind’s waywardness — “The Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” The fear of the Lord is expressed in walking in His ways, not in going our own way. What our priorities are in life shows who we love. Believers worship God in all of life, in the way that they live. In what they pursue, in what they value, they show their worship of God.
The Blessedness God Gives Pictured in Work, Home, and Church
But there’s a third thing that I want you to see in this psalm and that is how true blessedness is pictured in work, wife, children, and church. Look at verse 2. “You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands.” Meaningful work goes all the way back to the original created order, right? Because God made Adam and Eve to work, to do things, to accomplish things, and that’s fulfilling. But what did sin bring into the world? Vanity and toil in work and this blessing is saying, “You’ll get to do meaningful work, and it won’t be in vain. You’ll get to eat the fruit of the labor of your hands.” This is just a tiny little picture of the Lord reversing the effects of the curse of the fall. It’s just a little foretaste. It’s a joy and a blessing to do meaningful work. It’s a picture of the blessing that God gives His people.
Then there’s this picture in verse 3, “Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house.” That picture of vine here is obviously related to her fruitfulness in bearing children because later the children are described as little “olive shoots around your table.” It’s a picture of her attractiveness to her husband and the delight that he takes in her. It’s a picture of what our lives are supposed to be like together in a Christian marriage.
Next, you see the picture of the gift of children. The end of verse 3 — “Your children will be like olive shoots around your table.” And of course, later the priest adds this blessing in verse 6. “May you see your children’s children! May your grandchildren sit on your knees!” It’s a picture of the location of God’s blessing and the blessedness that God gives in the fear of the Lord.
But isn’t that interesting it doesn’t stop there? It goes on to say, look at verse 5. “The LORD bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life!” In other words, the blessedness that God gives is not only enjoyed in work and wife and children, but also in church. God has given His church as a blessing to His people.
Yet, in all of this, we still experience many failures and griefs. These pictures are the ideal, but many of us still wrestle through the brokenness of our own homes and hearts. But that is where we remember that Christ has borne our griefs, surely, and He has carried our sorrows. And the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all and we have been washed whiter than snow and we will receive the fullness of these blessings because of what Jesus has done. It’s because of Christ that we can now enjoy true blessedness in this life. By God’s grace, all of the blessing that is enjoyed here in this world, for some much, for others less, is just a foretaste of what is to come.
The Rev. Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III is the Chancellor/CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary and the John E. Richards Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology. He is also currently serving as President of RTS Jackson.