Lessons from Psalms #6 - A family that follows the Lord

There are some beautiful pictures in the Psalms of what it means to just love God and build a home around serving Him as a family.

Psalm 127 opens with 'Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it'. We do spend most of our lives creating our own home and family, but we have to recognise that everything we have comes from God. Our children are 'a heritage of the Lord' (v3), not one of our achievements. The question the Psalms often seem to ask is: what are you doing with the gifts God has given you?

Psalm 128 gives a picture of gospel prosperity (not prosperity gospel!!). 'Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labour; blessings and prosperity will be yours.' (v1-2) It's a principle, rather than a promise, that those who love God will live a life of blessing, though not one free of suffering. It's interesting that the picture of the godly family and their blessing is not one of isolation, but one that is part of the community of God's people: 'May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life.' (v5) We're not meant to hide away trying to create the perfect home and family; we're meant to live out the gospel in community together, teaching our children by practical example of what it means to love God and others.

Psalm 1 is often described as the key to the Psalms, and the message is clear: following the Lord brings true joy and prosperity, whereas wickedness leads to judgement and destruction. I love the picture in verse 3 that the righteous person is 'like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither'. I've planted some trees in my garden recently and I was told that the main reason young trees die is lack of water. I am constantly amazed that I can pour basinfuls of washing up water on those trees and they soak it all up and seem thirsty for more! Good job I live in Wales where it rains all the time. But it made the picture in the Psalms more real to me, that if a tree is planted by streams of water, it never dies, because it always has replenishment. If we are truly going to live righteous lives and build godly families, we will constantly need refreshing from the Lord to do that. We will be constantly giving to others, so we need to be finding our nourishment in God. We can't follow God's ways and be good parents without completely relying on His strength and power. Ask God to bless your home and family, and then be prepared to obey Him.