When we think of a person who is blessed, we may think of their wealth or the kind of house they live in, their job or their level of respect from their abilities. But this is not necessarily the blessing of the Lord, although he does bless in this way (Abraham).
The blessing, the best blessing, of the LORD is the blessing with his work and blessing within family. Those who walk closely with Him will be blessed with a good marriage and blessed with great children. They will even be blessed with grandchildren. This is the richest of blessings of the LORD and we see this in Ps 128.
But what about those who aren’t married, who don’t have a good marriage, or have children that are difficult, or parents who dreamed but have no grandchildren. Are they less blessed? Did they miss out on God’s blessing? Does God not like them the same? How does this psalm apply to them?
The truth is that who walk in righteousness and are spiritually and emotionally health people typically do have the blessings of righteousness. Typically when there is a breakdown, it is because one or more people are not walking well with the LORD. And that affects the whole family system.
But it isn’t necessarily the case. Some really great parents with good marriages have children that have probation officers. What went wrong? Are they not blessed? Did they sin? Does God think of them less?
No. It’s called sin. Even God himself does not have a good family. We, who are his own children in this world, cause him great grief on many occasions many times over. Yet He is the essence of goodness. He is goodness. But people have free will.
The key here is not to over analyze this psalm and see those who have good families as the ones whom God likes, and the one who have a destituteness in their families are the ones God isn’t blessing. This psalm is meant as a general blessing that those who love and fear the LORD will generally receive the blessing of that righteousness that will filter down through their families.
We can’t always change the families we came from, but we can change who we are for this next generation.
