Psalm 128

I read Psalm 128, and I can’t get it out of my head.

I’m older now. I’ve got an amazing, loving wife. Seriously, she’s an angel sent to this earth from heaven. Two strong, brave, funny, loving kids. A community that has my back, and I have theirs. Work that I can't get enough of (I love building). And somewhere along the way, all of that quietly rewrote my idea of success. Well, God did. I just finally started listening.

My idea of success used to be a bank account or a title or a business exit. Let's be honest, at some point or another, maybe even now, isn't that most of ours? I don’t think that’s because we're shallow. I think it’s because money and status are what I call "The Great Success Translator."

You may not know anything about orthopedic surgery, but you know $350,000 a year is success. You may not know a single rule in basketball, but you know an NBA contract is success. You may think I’m some dumb, illiterate, blue-collar farmer’s kid... but when I grow this business to hundreds of thousands, you’ll get it. You’ll appreciate my "success."

See, I don’t think our fixation on money has much to do with money at all. It’s a proxy. Money is the Great Success Translator. It takes everything I know, everything I’ve done, everything I want respect and praise for, and translates it into something you already understand. That’s a human problem. Deep in our souls, we all want to be known. Respected. Understood. Someone proud of us. So we spend our whole lives chasing the Great Success Translator.

I see it over and over again. And so do you. People sacrifice almost everything, they finally secure the bag... and... and... it just ain’t it.

Case in point. SpaceX just bought Cursor for $60 billion. One of the early employees walked away with, I don’t know, probably tens of millions. And you know what he did? He said he’s moving back to China because he needs "a different rhythm." He wants “more culture, aliveness, and humans in the everyday.” He wants “to stay grounded, experience life more fully.”

He won the game. Maxed out the scoreboard. And then went looking for a different one.

That got me thinking. We really only keep one scoreboard, and it’s financial. But life has more than one. Humbly speaking, most of what that guy is chasing, I wake up to every morning. So by that measure... am I rich? I kinda think I am.

And don’t get me wrong. This isn’t some hippie-dippie “money doesn’t matter, go be free, young pony-boy” thing. Money matters. Psalm 128 even says so, you’ll see. What I’m arguing about is where it sits on your list, and whether it’s the only scoreboard you’re checking.

So, back to Psalm 128. It stopped me in my tracks, because if you take the time to understand it, it paints a picture of a blessed life, and it isn’t "you’ll be drowning in money." It’s a picture the West has mostly forgotten. It’s only six verses, so let’s go line by line. Remember, this was written in a world much different from ours, and once we break down the context around the verses and you see that world, the pictures get a lot richer in meaning.

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you live to see your children’s children— peace be on Israel.

Let’s get the two scary words out of the way. “Fear” and “obedience.”

The “fear” here isn’t "I'm afraid." In the original text, the feeling is more positive. It's actually more like "honor, respect, reverence and awe". And "obedience." Our modern world hates that word. Sounds so controlling. So un-free. But other translations say "walk in His ways," which I think gets closer. The verse, as I'd put it in modern language, is more like "if you actually respect and honor God, if you’re in awe of Him, you’ll start living life the way He designed it to be lived. You’ll lean into what He calls good and stay away from what He says to stay away from. Not because somebody’s forcing you. Because you trust Him."

The rest of the psalm is assuming you have this heart posture and are doing this.

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you live to see your children’s children— peace be on Israel.

In the ancient world, the nightmare wasn’t “I didn’t make enough this month.” It was planting all season and watching somebody else eat it, like invading nations. Deuteronomy spells it out: a nation you don’t even know eats what your land and your labor produce (Deuteronomy 28:33). So “you will eat the fruit of your labor” is a big deal. You work, and you actually get to enjoy what you made. Food on the table for the ancients. A paycheck for the modern world.

But there’s more here than the paycheck.

Work isn’t the curse. Before anything went wrong in Genesis, God put Adam in the garden to work it and take care of it. We were made to work. We were given this body, this mind, these talents for a reason! And it feels good when you're working on the right things in the right way! That flow state. Somewhere along the way we got a bad relationship with it. Work turned into the chore you drag yourself through so you can pay for the weekend. Or, if you’re like me, it turned into the Great Success Translator. Never enough. Always proving something to everyone, including myself.

A blessed life has a different relationship with work. Picture a kid building a treehouse. They’re locked in. Picking up new skills, using the ones they already have, being creative, having a vision and wanting to see it through. They’ve lost track of time. There's a challenge, but a good one. And when it’s done, they're proud. And it feels good.

That’s the other part that I read from "fruit of your labor." Provision, yes (in our world money, in their world food). But also getting to enjoy the process of what you're building. Not a slave to it.

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you live to see your children’s children— peace be on Israel.

Notice how it doesn't just say a vine, it says a fruitful vine. And what kind of fruit? Grapes, which make wine. Wine was very important and symbolic in the ancient world. Wine meant celebration, joy, laughs, memories, love. And Psalm 128 paints this picture of your wife as that vine, stretching out all over your home like vines do.

That’s my wife. Full of life. Full of fruit. When she’s flourishing, the kids feel it. I feel it. The whole house feels it. She's like a big wind blowing into our sails. She's everyone's biggest cheerleader. She’s doing a thousand things a day that keep this family thriving. That flourishing comes from her own walk with God. It also depends on whether I, as her husband, am walking in His ways and showing up for her and the kids the way He intends.

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you live to see your children’s children— peace be on Israel.

Olive trees are basically unkillable. They survive drought. They survive frost. You can cut one down or burn it to the ground, and new shoots come right back up from the old root. The roots run so deep the tree just keeps going.

And they last. The olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane are more than 900 years old. DNA tests showed they all came from the same parent tree. Somebody planted them, probably to keep that line going, and they’re still standing centuries after that person was gone.

That’s what the psalm calls my kids. Olive shoots around my table. Not something pretty for a season. Something strong enough to outlast me. This is the legacy.

I picture them growing up strong. Building homes of their own. Carrying love and faith into a future I will never see.

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you live to see your children’s children— peace be on Israel.

This part is saying "Look up. Do you see it? This is what a blessed life is."

Work you actually enjoy, that also pays the bills. A wife who’s flourishing. Kids around the table, growing strong. A symbol of legacy. That’s what a blessed life looks like. Not a number in a bank account.

And here’s an interesting bit. In the original text, the psalm quietly switches words. Verse one’s “blessed” is ashrei: happy, flourishing, life going the way it’s supposed to. Verse four’s “blessing” is barak: something God gives. You still work. The psalm literally just told you to eat the fruit of your labor. But the blessing itself is a gift. It comes to the one whose heart is in the right place: loving God, trusting Him, walking in His ways.

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you live to see your children’s children— peace be on Israel.

Now the camera pulls back. Out of your house, and into your community.

Zion was the hill where God’s house stood. So the blessing starts in His house and flows into yours. Then the psalm asks for more: that you’d see the good of Jerusalem, the whole city, all the days of your life.

Not just your home. Your community.

Imagine it. Everything we just talked about, but on every street.

Neighbors who know each other’s names, not just which car goes with which driveway. Marriages that are thriving, not two tired roommates splitting bills and passing each other in the hallway. Kids growing up strong at every table on the block, instead of growing up lonely despite being in a full house. Families that stay together, instead of splitting weekends. A school where the teachers are loved and the kids are known, not just tested and counted. Coworkers who have each other’s backs, instead of climbing over each other to get to the top at any cost.

That’s a blessed community.

So I can’t stop at wanting a blessed home. I want what happens inside our house to spill out onto the street. Out there.

Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. Yes, this will be the blessing for the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion; may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you live to see your children’s children— peace be on Israel.

Back then, war, famine, drought, sickness... tons of things could cut a life short. So think about everything packed into that one line. If you’re old enough to see your grandkids, you made it through all of it. You came out the other end of the sickness. You had enough provision to keep food on the table through the famine and the drought.

And family back then was way closer than what most of us know in the modern West. The ideal Israelite household had three generations sharing life together. Work, parenting, responsibility, the family’s future. All of it tangled up together. But with how hard life was, most families never made it there. That’s what made it a blessing.

So I picture my table someday. My wife and me, our kids, and their kids. Getting to watch the love we poured into our kids show up in how they love theirs. And not as a visitor at Christmas. I want to be in the thick of it. Sitting in the bleachers at soccer games. Calling my kids just to talk. Every holiday together, loud and crowded. Being the grandpa who’s actually there, all-in on all three generations.

So, back to the scoreboard.

Money’s on it. Verse two called that out. But so is a marriage that’s alive. Kids growing up strong. A community that’s better because you’re in it. A long life with your grandkids at your table. And behind all of it, a heart that loves and trusts God and walks in His ways.

The older I get, the more that table looks like success to me. By that scoreboard, I’m richer than I ever thought I’d be.