Joel 1-3 / Revelation 1 / Psalm 128 / Proverbs 29:18
Joyful, joyful we adore Thee – God of glory, Lord of love – Hearts unfold like flowers before thee – Opening to the sun above – Melt the clouds of sin and sadness, – Drive the dark of doubt away, – Giver of immortal gladness, – Fill us with the light of day.
Sometimes nothing expresses one’s worship quite like a hymn. They are doctrinally sound; the tune is usually simple to follow, and the words will bring just the right strength we need. I thought of the above verse to the song Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee when I read Psalm 128.
Psalm 128:1-2in the New Living Translation, NLT, reads, “How joyful are those who fear the LORD, all who follow His ways! You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be!”
Reading those two verses made me smile, gave me great hope for the present, and for the future. I want to look at the fullness of a few words in these verses because I have a feeling there is a rich blessing underneath. As usual, I will use the Strong’s Concordance to find the Hebrew meaning of the following words:
Joyful is the word eser (eh-sher) and means happy or blessed!
Fear is the word yare (yaw-ray) and means fearing; morally reverent; afraid, fearful.
Fruit of labor is the word yegia (yeg-ee-ah) and means product, produce, acquired property (as a result of work).
Prosperous is the word tob (tobe) and means good, pleasant, agreeable (to the senses), excellent, rich, valuable in estimation, good understanding, kind, and bounty (among other things).
The key to these joyful blessings is the fear of the Lord. We are not to be afraid of the Lord, but we are to honor, respect, and listen to His words. When we hear and trust God, believing that what He says is true, we will be joyful, happy, and blessed! We will also see good results from our hard work.
We all want to know that our lives make a difference in the world. There is no better way to be a blessing to those around us than to trust God and work hard, enjoying the good things God brings from our work.
