I guess because it is Thanksgiving week, I’ve been thinking a lot about being blessed. I looked up “blessed” in my concordance and wow(!), did I find a lot of reasons to be grateful. There were between 234 (NIV) and 302 (NKJV) occurrences of “blessed” in the Scriptures. I wonder how much fun it would be to take one each day and simply meditate on it. I think I will do that, at least for the remainder of November.
“Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways.” [Ps 128:1]
I picked this one first because for me this blessing symbolizes the beginning of all blessing…the fear of the LORD and the response that attitude generates in our lives. The word is ‘esher in the Hebrew. It means happiness. It can be used as an interjection, “How happy!”
“How happy! All who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways.”
It almost sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? How happy are all who fear? We seldom put fear and happiness together. Yet in God we do. To fear the LORD is to love, respect, honor, reverence, and stand in awe of the God who loves us so. When we fear Him in that manner, we want to walk in His ways. That means we submit and do things His way. AND, when we do things His way, we will surely be able to exclaim, “How happy!”
On this earth, happiness that is dependent upon the things of this life is transitory and fragile; but, when our happiness is grounded on the fear of the LORD, happiness becomes an eternal experience.
Thank you, LORD, I am blessed to fear You. Help me to always walk in Your ways. Amen.
