Friday, July 16, 2010
Psalm 128:1-4 Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways. 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 sons will be like olive shoots around your table. Thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD.
GOD'S GIFT OF A HAPPY HOME
In this "Song of Ascent" the psalmist teaches that a happy home does not happen by accident. It's a blessing the God of love bestows on those who trust Him as their Savior and strive as His dear disciples to follow His ways.
Why was this psalm included in the Songs of Ascents collection? Perhaps it was recognized that the Jewish pilgrims (who were just getting settled in the land) needed the admonition and comfort this psalm affords. Did they wish to enjoy the blessing of a happy home in Canaan? Did husbands and wives desire the blessing of marital joy? Did children and young people desire to grow up in a happy home and enjoy God's blessing throughout their lives? Then let them not follow the faithless example of their forefathers who turned away from the Lord. Let them instead remember Him, serve Him faithfully in love, and run cheerfully in the way of His commandments. Then He would bless them, for His mercy's sake, with the precious gift of a happy home life.
The Lord continues to bestow this gift on believers today. Where godliness is "the crown of the home," where family members set apart the place of honor in their hearts for Jesus, where they invite Him in each day to be their honored Guest, there He gladly consents to tarry with His blessing. And there is happiness.
O happy home where Thou art loved most dearly,
Thou faithful Friend and Savior full of grace,
And where among the guests there never cometh
One who can hold such high and honored place!
O happy home where all, in heart united,
In holy faith and blessed hope are one,
Whom bitter death a little while divideth,
Yet cannot end the union here begun!
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 626:1)
