All Woven Together
Opening Prayer
Lord, help me to be aware of Your hand working in my life and in everything around me.
Read Psalm 128:1-6
[1]A song of ascents. Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in obedience to him. [2] You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. [3] Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. [4] Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the LORD. [5] May the LORD bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. [6] May you live to see your children’s children- peace be on Israel. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What are the specific blessings promised here?I was once challenged about why we held a harvest festival in our church, when farming was remote from daily life. But its remoteness makes celebrating it more important, not less. When we’re so detached from farming the earth, it becomes easy to live in a world where food comes from a supermarket rather than the Creator.Our psalm is probably taken from a harvest festival. It reflects the concerns of the average Jewish peasant farmer: a fair return on labor, a wife to share concerns and bring delight, and vigorous children to be the boisterous life of the family. The promise seems simple: if you live right and fear the Lord, this will be yours. Yet the psalm ends with a blessing (5,6), spoken as the festival ends. We’re reminded that the outcomes (2-4) aren’t automatic but wholly depend upon the gift of God. They also depend on the state of the nation. If Jerusalem, heart of the nation’s religious and political life, isn’t prosperous, it’s unlikely that any of Israel’s people can be. We should ask for God’s blessing, seek it through reverent discipleship and seek God’s blessing upon church, community and nation.
Apply
Be faithful in all God has called you to and know he will be faithful to all He has promised.
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