The Fear of the Lord Precedes Blessings

“Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways!  You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.” –Psalm 128:1-2 (ESV Read Psalm 128).

With Thanksgiving near at hand and with family celebrations in order, gathering to give thanks and to have family fellowship is a dearly-held American tradition.  Psalm 128:1-2 gives us two important truths we should never forget as we “eat the fruit of the labor of our hands” and count our blessings—as we should do every day, not just on the day of the year set aside specifically to give thanks.

These two important spiritual truths are “the fear of the Lord” and “”walking in the Lord’s ways”. Central to any faithful person’s worship of and following in the ways of God is fear and reverence of the Almighty.  Fear of God was frequently used in Old Testament writings and carried the concept of standing in awe in recognition of His power, majesty and holiness.  But because the people of Israel had entered into covenant relationship with Almighty God, the fear took on the dimension of knowing that God was concerned with ordinary affairs of humankind and cared about what happened to them.  Every good Israelite was familiar with their important statement of faith (called the Shema): ”Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (ESV).   They were also taught to fear and respect God by quoting often this additional statement of faith:  “”And now,  Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord your God which I am commanding you today, for your good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13, ESV)

The context of the focal verses for today’s thoughts, Psalm 128:1-2, and indeed the whole Psalm, is set in the context of home as family members are about to partake of a meal.  As they looked at the provision of their table, they were reminded of their own labor which was a part of providing the harvest, but the ultimate gratitude was due to God from whom all blessings flow.  The blessings of God were evident in this family:  food, children, prosperity, a prayer that all might “see your children’s children”(Psalm 128:6) and another important aspect of blessed living: “peace upon Israel!” (Psalm 128:6).  As we consider the unrest in America today, and the war clouds over Israel even at this time, may we be extra-thankful as we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving that we can experience an oasis of peace within our closely-knit and loving family groups.  Let us consider that, as of old, so today, we are called to fear God and walk in His ways.  My husband and I had a Thanksgiving custom as we gathered with immediate family and close relatives (and friends) to celebrate this wonderful holiday.  Before Grover prayed over the bountiful meal, he invited each person present (old enough to talk!) to name a signally significant thing for which they were thankful that had happened to them during the past year.  In this way, Thanksgiving became, indeed, a time to give thanks in fear and reverence of God “from Whom all blessings flow.”

On Loving and Hating

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love you enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” –Matthew 5:43-45 (ESV). “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”-I John 4:20-21 (ESV). “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all ffenses.”-Proverbs 10:12 (ESV).

Some people are easy to love because they are loveable. Some people are not easy to love because, for reasons we have allowed to exist, they are unlovable, maybe even our enemies. Jesus was revolutionary in His teachings. He taught that we are to love even our enemies, those who persecute or do evil toward us. The context of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:43-45 was during His Sermon on the Mount. He quoted from Leviticus 19:18: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; I am the Lord,” The Jews could well agree to love neighbors, if they were loveable but a commonly held belief was that no harm would be done spiritually if one hated his enemy. Not so; love your neighbor but also love your enemy. Does God make a distinction? No; He sends his rain and sunshine on both the just and unjust, those who love Him and those who don’t. No distinction or favoritism is shown. Neither should we profess to love God and hate our brother. The love for God and hatred for one’s fellowman cannot exist within the same heart. Then John adds a reasonable analysis. If you can’t love your brother whom you see, how can you love God whom you cannot see? John could be referring to the time when the lawyer from the Pharisees came asking Jesus: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said to him 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” -Matthew 22:36-39 (ESV) [quoting Deuteronomy 6:5].

Following the signing of the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II, General Douglas MacArthur was made Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces and sent to Japan to supervise the occupation army. At his Tokyo headquarters in October, 1945, he met with four clergymen from America, the first plain-clothes US visitors to Japan since the war. The ministers had gone to check on Christians in Japan and how they fared after the war. General McArthur, seeming to realize that if any hope existed for rescuing the Japanese from choosing Communism, it would be through the strength and moral rectitude of Christianity. “Give me 1,000 missionaries as soon as possible, and Bibles, Bibles and more Bibles,” MacArthur requested. The General had been instructed by President Harry Truman to “use whatever actions necessary to control the vicious and cruel savages.” Churches did respond, and within the next five years, over 2,000 missionaries, teachers and social workers went to Japan. Much criticism evolved over MacArthur’s request and the consequent sending of missionaries. Many said it was “mixing politics and religion.”

Today the criticism would be for a “politically incorrect” action. Japan did not turn to Christ and Christianity in large numbers, as only one-half of one percent of the Japanese population have become Christians. However, General MacArthur’s consciousness of being called of God at a time when Japan was held to be the enemy, even if conquered, was a desire to love the enemy and provide a way for them to have a moral foundation for establishing a democracy. “Love your enemies” was at the heart of this call for missionaries. God expects and enables us to love friends and enemies because of the love of Christ in our hearts.