Blessings

Happy is the man who ... fears the Lord and walks in His ways!!! Amen? Psalm 128 begins with this passage and makes us desire to know more. Fears the Lord -- what does He mean by that? Walk in His ways? How do we do that? Thereafter scripture tells us of the blessings that will come our way if we do as we have been commanded. This is a conditional blessing! To fear the Lord to me reminds me that I am to honor/respect the Lord and His Word. Then I know that I am to follow His guidance and direction -- to be in His will for my life. This brings us back to Christ being the Vine and us the branches and if we are cut away from Him, and do not draw from His life our own nurturing, we will perish! We were told of the two Hebrew words for blessed - asher and barak. The word as used here is asher (happy/blessed) and suggests that it is both a condition (to be blessed) and a human reaction (to be happy). Wow! Through following this -- we get BOTH! Beth tells us that biblically one is pronounced blessed when God is present and involved in our lives and His hand is working, directing all our affairs, for His divine purpose and in a sense we live before the face of God. How about that? Have you ever thought about that? Sometimes our circumstances are not happy ones but we are reminded that the circumstances of our heart can be with God's help. We know that God gives us directions that prove wise in both the statement and what it brings about in our lives. For instance, God tells us to forgive each other. We know that as humans this is difficult. But we also know with God's help we can. From this, we ourselves are healed and happy. This is a double whammy for our good! The blessing can also be as Beth suggested in what we avoided, not just in what we gained. One thing that she shared that I thought was great was this statement "In loving God and then loving others as we love ourselves, we in effect keep the entire law". What do you think about that? All the other things should just fall into place. From there the passage tells of the blessings that we will reap if we follow the direction of God. First He relates the blessing of food, then our spouses to be fruitful, and the blessing of children around our table. These blessings were the mainstay of one's life and culture at that time. By them you will see prosperity and be blessed by your descendants. We know that our families are one of our greatest blessings as well. What a wonderful promise that God gives to us!!! Then we can ask ourselves about our spiritual family. How do you think this applies to it or does it?