BLESSED IN FEAR?

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to Him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

Yes, this will be the blessing or the man who fears the Lord.

May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you live to see your children’s children — peace be on Israel.

Psalm 128

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Can one be afraid and yet still be blessed?

It’s an oxymoron of a question, isn’t it? I mean, we don’t typically associate someone in fear as feeling blessed in any way shape or form. They are in dread and alarmed over something and that is distant from being happy or bliss-filled.

Seriously, you can’t be in fear and still blessed, can you?

Well, God’s word says we can be. Look at these words from the 128th Psalm:

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to Him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.

Yes, this will be the blessing or the man who fears the Lord.

May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you live to see your children’s children — peace be on Israel.

The Bible is 100 percent truth and so when the Word of God says that anyone who fears the Lord will be blessed, then they will be.

So what does it mean to fear the Lord? What leads us to be blessed in fear?

Typically, we become afraid because something in life could cause us harm or damage in some way in life. In regard to the Lord, we understand that He despises sin and will discipline anyone who chooses it over His will and way. With this, we should be afraid of sinfulness and turn from it, allowing the Lord to guide us in His ways of righteousness and holiness. When we do, then we will find ourselves blessed because we know we are living in His favor which is far greater than living under His judgment.

How will your blessings come?

Looking back to the passage, we see that come in several ways:

1. The obedient person will be blessed by the fruits of their righteous labors.

Have you ever felt what I call that “warm fuzzy feeling” when you do something for another. Out of your charity, you provide a blessing to someone and after your selfless act of service, you feel good about yourself and what you have done. I feel this sensation that rushes over us in these instances is none other than the Holy Spirit filling our hearts and sending the message, “Well done good and faithful servant. With you, I am well pleased.” Just another fruit of the Spirit.

2. Blessings and prosperity will be yours.

Obedience to the Lord’s will and way leads us to a rich harvest through the service He calls us into. Not only do we sow goodwill and on others but God in turn allows us to prosper, knowing that we will be good and giving stewards of what He provides. And prosperity only provides us more to use to the glory of the Lord. After all, everything He gives us is rightfully His and we should ever seek to return a portion of His blessings to bless others.

3. Your wife will like a fruitful vine; your children like olive shoots.

A man who is fears the Lord and stays obedient to Him brings blessings on His family. His wife will flourish, alive and thriving. His children will blossom as they grow into maturity. Any household where the Lord is placed first will teem with life and love in its fullest abundance, blessed by the Lord they fear.

Now consider the opposite. Consider what would happen within the family of any man who chose to not be obedient to the Lord. Unfortunately, this hits really close to home for me. For there was a time in my life when I didn’t fear the Lord. I wanted control of my life and was only obedient to myself. As you can guess from this scripture and devotion, things didn’t end well. I ran my marriage and family into the ground after almost ten years. It’s ever going to be the one thing in my life that I regret the most. I pray that if you’re reading this today and not leading your family in the Lord, that you’ll consider changing your life attitude, fearing what will happen if you don’t.

Thanks be to God that He is a God of second and third and fourth and (add nearly countless) chances. For He taught me a tough lesson through those years after my marriage ended, showing me that my only hope in life was to allow Him to be the Lord of it. I was afraid of returning only because I feared how He would feel about my straying. But just like the prodigal son when he returned from squandering his inheritance, the Father wrapped His arms around me, welcomed me home, and then proceeded to bless me now that I feared Him. As a result, a new marriage emerged, one that has endured more than 20 years now. My children returned to me five years after I was born again and I’m convinced it’s because the Lord knew I was ready to lead my children spiritually, something I did do and will do for the rest of our life together.

Truly, my life became blessed and still is to overflow each and every day. This is the life I pray all of my readers will experience, a life fully committed to the Lord in obedience each and every day, and because of that, is a life richly blessed by the Giver of all blessings, the Giver of every good and perfect thing from above (James 1:17).

PS: If you have a testimony on this matter, please leave a comment. Your words will be a blessing to someone else.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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