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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 for the man who fears the Lord (Psalm 128:1-4).

This psalm has created anxiety for many saints. It has been thrust at me accompanied with haunting questions such as, "What did I do to cause my children to turn their backs on me?" or "Why won't God bless me?" And well, since I'm the pastor, I'm supposed to know the answer.

Rarely, did I think there was an obvious answer. It is beyond my ability to solve family issues, but it is my task to respond to people’s spiritual questions. Not so much with answers, but to help them wrestle well with God, to set them on a better road.

On the surface, Psalm 128 reads as if all who obey the Lord will be blessed with wholesome family life and a full table. But that is not really the point. Obedience is paired with fear: a sense of awe and reverence before His majesty; to live believing that He is the sovereign King and our covenant God who holds us in His hands. Fearing God includes trusting him when adversity strikes. Also, trusting that his ways are right.

But we need to know what we are reading. Recently, I have mentioned that, to read the Bible well, we need to use our imaginations and to read passages in context. This psalm suggests something more. We need to know the kind of literature we are reading. Let me explain. We read poetry different than we read prose. We read a historical novel differently than we read a history textbook.

Psalm 128 was classified by the Jewish people as wisdom literature. Thus, it is like the book of Proverbs. A proverb, even today, is not understood to be a rule or a promise; rather, it is something that is often true. They are patterns that have been observed by people. The Bible will not allow us to conclude that life is sweet sailing for all who fear and obey God. Check out Psalm 73 as an example.

Now back to the pastoral questions. Saints must realize that family troubles do not mean that God is against them or that they have necessarily committed some great sin for which God is punishing them. But realizing this does not remove or fix their troubled families.

A helpful context for this song is Genesis 3 and 4 where the Bible illustrates that the consequence of the fall into sin is both difficulty in securing food and dysfunction in family relationships. Work, marriage, sexuality, and family are all corrupted by sin.

How do we overcome these difficulties? The first answer is always, "we cannot." There is nothing we can do to undo the curse of sin. The cure is not our obedience but the blessing of God. This psalm highlights sufficient food and family health as blessings of God for human flourishing. Whenever and wherever we see them, we see God’s redemptive activity.

Living in the blessing of God calls forth from us faithful living, not pride. Those who fear the Lord often experience not just the spiritual blessings of redemption but the physical ones as well. Those who fear the Lord will not see these blessings as a reward for their hard work but as a gift from God.

God’s covenant with Israel restored His reign over her and with that comes the renewal of creation. But throughout the Old Testament, it is never enough. Sin always interferes. There is always need for something more. The ultimate divine blessing comes in and through Jesus Christ and His ministry of redemption and reconciliation. Only in him is the curse of sin undone.

In the New Covenant in Christ, we also find creation restored. We see it in the miracles of Jesus. But God’s kingdom and reign have not yet fully come. This psalm is waiting for a full and complete fulfillment, which will only happen when Jesus returns. So, as we experience the continued brokenness of food insecurity and breakdown in family relations, we are propelled to pray for God’s blessings and for Christ’s return. The fear of God and this psalm bring us to our knees, they fill us with longing for the fullness of redemption. Come, Lord Jesus, come!