The Blessing of Relationship with God
Psalm 128
Verse 1 Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to Him.
We journey into a new song of ascent today. This psalm reminds us of the blessings that are ours though living lives of obedience.
This fear in today’s verse is the loving understanding of the power of a Father’s love for His children. When a child has done something that they know won’t please their parent, the hide for fear that they will suffer the punishment that is rightly theirs. Adam and Eve knew this fear as their sin caused the dreaded separation in relationship with God. We need to ask ourselves if that is how we feel when we disobey Him.
It is so easy to live with little to no fear of the Lord when we know we are under His loving grace. But that is not how we are supposed to live. To have no fear of His ultimate punishment is one thing but to continue sinning knowing that He has forgiven us is to say that we really don’t care about His sacrifice. Because we know that He hates sin we should be very aware of how sin in our lives affects our relationship with the Father.
There is a strain in any relationship when one does something that offends the other, but how much more so when that offense is the sins of people that He shed His blood for? We so easily think light of our sin not stopping to think what it means to God when we throw His grace in His face. If we were to think of our sin as He thinks of our sin we may find ourselves not wanting to sin.
The psalmist says that the person who lives in obedience to God is blessed. While this blessing may look different than the world’s idea of a blessing, we won’t be sad that our blessing isn’t what is sought in this world. These blessings may not include wealth and likely won’t include fame but the blessing that beats out all competitors is the blessing of close and abiding relationship with God Almighty.
This relationship with the Lord, when we are walking in obedience, will far outweigh any other relationship we will have on earth. To have constant communion with the One who rules for eternity is something to rejoice about! Oh! Let us praise Him!
Making It Personal
How do you view God’s grace? Have you ever experienced this close abiding relationship? What sin is most likely to come between you and God?
Making It Personal Kids
Do you think it is ok to keep on sinning because Jesus has already died for all your sins? How does sin affect your relationship with Jesus? What sin gets in the way of your relationship with Jesus most often?
Closing Prayer
Father, forgive us for treating Your wonderful grace as an excuse to keep on sinning. Give us a desire to live in close fellowship with You, forsaking all the sins that cause us to walk away from You. In Jesus’ name, amen.