The Fear of the Lord

The Fear of the Lord – Psalm 128:1-4 (Psalm 127:4) Children born to man in their youth, with God's blessing, become the support of the mature years. A warrior rejoices that his arrows can fly where he cannot go; Good sons are their father's arrows, which are aimed at the target at which their parents are aiming.

I. Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord.

A. The "heart of a man" will be seen on the path he walks.

1. The blessing will come when the heart and the path are both with God.

2. To enjoy the divine blessing, we must be active and walk; we have to be methodical (way) (means used to reach its end) and walk in a certain way; and we are to be godly (compassionate, kind, devotion to God, and the holy) and walk in the way of the Lord.

3. "The way of God" is a "blessed" way; the ways of God were "opened" by the Blessed One; they were "trodden on" by Him in whom we are blessed; "they are frequented" (repeat) by the "blessed", they are "provided with means of blessing"; they are paved (covered) "with present blessings, and lead to eternal 'beatitude'; Who could not wish to walk through them? C.H.S.

4. When you see a life that stands up to “every storm"; you can be sure" that "it rests on a sure foundation, which is beyond the reach of human sense, and that this foundation is the 'fear of the Lord.'

5. When you see a home in which marriage "meets every storm," you can be sure that it rests on a sure foundation that is beyond the reach of human sense, and that "this foundation is the fear of the Lord."

6. The Psalmist, then, has given this fear of God a place at the beginning of this Psalm which celebrates the blessing that descends upon "domestic" life. (beg in everything)

7. His "fear" (1) is that which "produces the revelations" which "we believe" and which "we receive from Him in His Word".

8. It is the fear that a child feels for his beloved father, a fear of offending; It is the "fear" felt by one who has been rescued from destruction "because his protector," who gives you benefit, kind helper, who nobly and "sacrificing Himself, has stood in to save him." A fear of "acting unworthy of His goodness"; and it is the one who fills the breast of a forgiven and grateful rebel" in the presence of a venerated (respectable, noble) Sovereign. A fear that if he forgets the goodness of the other can cause him sorrow (grievance, past quality).

9. This is the fear of the Christian now: a fear that inspires reverence (submission, respect) for majesty, gratitude for mercy; "the fear of displeasing Him," the "desire for His approval," and longing for the fellowship of heaven; the fear of angels and the blessed Son; the fear, of not sinning, but of love, which withdraws (stops, which is further back in the space of time) instinctively (natural, spontaneous) from doing anything that might grieve, or omitting (excluding, forgetting) anything that might dishonor Him.

10. He who fears the Lord; This touch "solves everything in gold".

11. He who fears like this does not fear; He has no reason to fear; all the insignificant fears are swallowed up by this great fear; and this great fear is sweeter and more pleasant, while small fears are the cause of anguish and mistreatment.

12. Secure of other things, he may say; "If my God is please, it does not matter who are displease with it; it doesn't matter who despises me, 'if He considers me His'.

13. (2) Thou shalt eat of the labor of thy hands.

14. Ideally, the mother would have been able to be at home, but today, the mother must take care of the house, work, make her payments, and so on.

15. Blessed are you, and it will be well with you.

16. Oh, trust in the Lord for happiness as well as help!

17. All the sources of happiness are in Him.

18. Trust in Him who gave us all things that we enjoy, who of His rich and free mercy gives us" as from His own hand, what we receive as gifts, and as a guarantee of His love, that "we may enjoy all that we possess."

19. He infuses the joys that are in His right hand into all that He bestows upon His thankful children, who, having fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, enjoy Him in all and above all.

20. You'll do well.

21. If we fear God, we can discard all other fear.

22. As we walk in God's ways, we will be under His protection, provision, and approval (permission); "Danger" and "destruction" will be kept away from us: all things will work together for our good.

23. In God's sight it would not be a blessing for us to live without effort, nor to eat the unearned bread, but dependent on another; The happy state on earth is that we have something to do, and a just result of what we do.

24. "Your wife" (3).

25. To attain the fullness of earthly bliss, a man must not be alone.

26. In paradise he needed a suitable help, and surely woman is no less necessary outside of it.

27. Not every man who "fears the Lord has a wife"; but if he does, she will share in his blessedness (spiritual happiness) and increase it. C.H.S.

28. She guards the house and guards the home.

29. The house is a place that honors her, because she is "the beauty of the house”; and she has abundant occupation in it; there she is safe.

30. Your children like "olive shoots around the table".

31. Our children gather around the table to be fed, and this involves expense: how much better is this than to see them "moaning in bed because of sickness, unable to come to the table to eat."

32. It can also help us to value the privileges of our home, to think about what it would be like "if they were taken away from us".

33. How do we compare the problems caused by children with the grief that "their loss" would cause us?

34. What would be the affliction if you were to exclaim with Job: "Oh, if I were as in the months past, as in the days when God preserved me (protect, care, guard); when my children were around me." C.H.S.

35. (4) Behold, thus is blessed the man "who fears Jehovah."

36. It is affirmed with a note that demands attention: "Behold."

37. Beheld by faith in the promise, behold, see it in the execution of the promise; see it with the assurance that God is faithful; and marvel that it should be so, for we deserve no favor or blessing from Him. Matthew Henry

38. Before the fall, paradise was man's home; After the fall, the home became his paradise. Amen