1 Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.
2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
4 Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord.
5 The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.
6 Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.
The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and all of the blessings that come to a family and church are based on fearing the Lord.
We fear God and we are happy. We don’t fear God and we are unhappy: we are pulled apart by all of our anxieties and a thousand competing “fears.” When we fear God, we do not fear circumstances, apostasy, character assassination, teenage rebellion, economic ruin, divorce, or even death. We are too busy fearing God to fear any of these things.
Verse 1
Clearly, this psalm is directed to a father and a husband. This is not uncharacteristic of the Scriptures, as the Ten Commandments read, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife,” but says nothing about coveting “thy neighbor’s husband.” God puts concerted weight upon the father of the home. Where fatherhood breaks down in a certain community, and where the fathers do not fear God, bad things can happen.
All of the subsequent blessings mentioned in the psalm hinge upon this first verse (repeated in verse four): “Blessed is the man that fears the Lord and walks in His ways.” The father that attends worship services on a Sunday but habitually visits illicit websites is not fearing God. Though he may carry on his sinful habits in secret, the true character of his life will be evident to all. It is not uncommon that the sins a father commits in secret are committed openly by his sons. However, the man who has learned to fear God and to walk in His ways can expect the blessings enumerated in this psalm. Thus, we conclude that the fear of God is the very root of the good life, and the beginning of wisdom. How can a man know if he fears God? His actions will be motivated by this central concern. He cannot bear the violation of God’s name in his presence. He quickly confesses his sins and repents when he discovers that he has displeased God. This becomes the pattern of the man’s life, as he is renewed by the grace of God. Without God’s grace, we would still be blinded in sin and incapable of perceiving God in a right manner.
Verses 2-4
Men who fear God are happy men. To the carnal mind, the fear of God is dull, even abhorrent. They wonder how fearing God could produce any happiness whatsoever. So they seek happiness through the party life, drunkenness, and stuffing their faces with excessive “pleasures.” They pursue self-worship and other forms of idolatry. Then they live with the fear of man, the torture of guilt, the pain of hangovers, and the heavy pall of death. This is not the life of happiness. If they had feared God, they would have found happiness. Instead, they find nothing but grief, bitterness, and corruption.
It is one thing to earn a living and obtain significant wealth. But it is quite another thing to enjoy the fruits of one’s labors, with maximum happiness and fulfillment of joy. Only God can provide us this added benefit. Most rich people are miserable because their hearts are set on the uncertain riches—they worship the wrong god.
The greatest earthly blessing is not the produce of our hands or the achievement of status and fame. It is the blessing of a good wife and fruitful children, who are described as olive plants in verse three. As olive plants do not yield their fruit for five to eight years after planting, we may not see fruit right away from our efforts in child training. We should be ready to provide many years of spiritual, academic, and practical, economic training before our children will yield fruit like a mature olive tree.
This psalm also assumes the existence of the family economy. At one time in human history, children were not considered a product of the state. They were not considered a financial drag on the household, as they are today. Media pundits and sociologists warn families that each additional child will cost them over $300,000. However, the writer of this psalm sees something of a potential for wealth in a God-fearing family blessed with children.
Of course, as Christians we are more interested in the kingdom of God than we are in material benefits and comforts for ourselves. We do not mind a little sacrifice of our own wealth and comfort for our children. But more than this, we are interested in discipling our little “nations” (Matt. 28:18), as God provides us this opportunity to serve His kingdom. We see our children as mighty servants in the hands of Christ the King. This is ultimate productivity!
John Adams succeeded in becoming president of the United States, but two of his sons became a terrible grief to him in his later years. Paris Hilton was an heir of the great Hilton Hotel wealth, but by her profligate lifestyle, she besmirched her grandfather’s legacy. From these and other examples, we can see that wealth and power pale in significance when compared to the spiritual and economic legacy carried on in the lives of children and grandchildren.
Verses 5-6
God’s people considered the church to be the greatest joy on earth. Nothing thrills the soul of God’s man more than to see the progress, the advancement, and the strengthening of the church. He does not want to see the church languishing. In fact, the end game for all of life on earth must be the prosperity of Mount Zion—the church of the firstborn, the city of the living God (Heb. 12:22, 23). Men who fear God will see this blessing in their communities. And of course, as already included in the other ascent psalms, we find this psalm extolling the blessing of peace and unity within the body of the church (verse six).
What about the husband who does not see his wife as a fruitful vine? Perhaps he flirts with the idea that he “married the wrong woman.” The fact is that every man gets the wife that God gives to him, and every woman gets the husband that God gives to her. The problems in our marriages are always rooted in our perspective of God and our relationship to God. By nature, men and women do not fear God, and they do not delight greatly in the commandments of God. If we want our households to become something like what we find in verse three of this psalm, we must study what it means to fear God and walk in His ways.
Covenant blessings for the godly family will only flow from the church of Jesus Christ. Occasionally, families will attempt to separate themselves from the church. It seems that no church is good enough for them, so they give up on it. If they give up on the church, they walk away from the fount from which blessings flow (verse five). While the apostate churches have increased in number, this should in no way discourage us from our search for the biblically-based, historically-rooted Christian church.
The basic building block of the God-worshiping church body is the man who fears God and expresses it in family worship. It is one thing to talk of the fear of God on Sunday morning, but that talk does not mean anything if a man is not living in the fear of God the rest of the week. As fathers and husbands, let us study the fear of God, talk as if we fear God, sing the fear of God, and live out the fear of God every day.
1. What is the great condition upon which the blessings presented in this psalm must stand?
2. To whom is this psalm directed? To whom is the tenth commandment directed?
3. What are the blessings promised in the psalm?
4. To what are our children compared in verse three? Why does this apply to children in the covenant family?
5. What is our highest desire and joy on earth?
1. How do we express the fear of God in our home? How does Dad exemplify fear of God throughout the week?
2. How has God blessed our home? What are the highest blessings among all these blessings with which we are blessed