PRÉCIS ON THE THRILL OF OBEDIENTLY FEARING GOD: THE TRUE PROSPERITY GOSPEL

SCRIPTURE. “Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is everyone who fears, reveres, and worships the Lord, who walks in His ways and lives according to His commandments. For you shall eat [the fruit] of the labor of your hands; happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) shall you be, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house; your children shall be like olive plants round about your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you out of Zion [His sanctuary], and may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life; Yes, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!” – PSALM 128:1-6, AMPC

KEY TERM: “HAPPY!” ‘Esher’ [אַ֭שְׁרֵי]: “From a primitive Hebrew word meaning: ‘To be straight; level, right, honest; able to go forward and lead or guide.’” NOTE: “The Hebrew term אֶשֶׁר describes the objective, God-given condition of blessedness enjoyed by those who walk in covenant faithfulness. It is not a fleeting emotion, but a settled state of well-being grounded in the character and promises of the Lord. Approximately forty-five occurrences, spread mainly through Psalms, Proverbs, and prophetic or covenant contexts, form a tapestry that reveals what a ‘truly blessed’ life’ looks like in the sight of God.”

QUOTATION. “‘Our Obedience is God’s Pleasure when it proves that God is our Treasure.’ This is Good News, because it means very simply that the Command to Obey is the Command to be Happy in God. The Commandments of God are only as hard to obey as the Promises of God are hard to believe. The Word of God is only as hard to obey as the beauty of God is hard to cherish.” ― JOHN PIPER, The Pleasures of God: Meditations on God’s Delight in Being God, 2000; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘The blessings of those who fear God. ONLY those who are truly holy, are truly happy! In vain do we pretend to be of those that fear God, if we do not make conscience of keeping stedfastly to his ways. ‘Blessed is every one that fears the Lord.’ Whether he be high or low, rich or poor in the world. ‘If thou Fear Him and Walk in His Ways, all shall be well with thee while thou livest, better when thou diest, best of all in Eternity.’

‘By the blessing of God, the godly shall get an honest livelihood.’ Here is a Double Promise; they shall have something to do! For an idle life is a miserable, uncomfortable life, and shall have health and strength, and power of mind to do it. They shall not be forced to live upon the labours of other people. It is as much a mercy as a duty, with quietness to work and eat our own bread. They and theirs shall enjoy what they get. ‘Such as Fear the Lord and Walk in His Ways, are the only happy persons, whatever their station in life may be.’ They shall have abundant comfort in their family relations. And they shall have all the good things God has promised, and which they pray for.

A good man can have little comfort in seeing his children’s children, unless he sees peace upon Israel. ‘Every true believer rejoices in the Prosperity of the [True] Church!’ Hereafter we shall see greater things, with the everlasting peace and rest that remain for the Israel of God.” – MATTHEW HENRY, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

DK’S MAXIM: ‘It feels profoundly wonderful to Do the Right Thing.’ As when we take a risk to stand for the kid who is being bullied at school. Or when a Church takes a sustained position that is contrary to the King and His Word, and God gives you the mettle to confront it. Or when we privately go before our God in tearful Repentance when we have veered seriously off trail, as we Coloradans like to say it.

‘There is such Exuberant Joy Unspeakable when we truly, steadily Live for Christ!’ At such point as we DECIDE to live this way, we are almost instantaneously thrust upward far above all the Clouds of Darkness of this earthly life, beloved. I frankly never knew such Unbridled Happiness until I decided, at His insistent but loving prodding, that nothing here on Earth – including my own life – would ever be as important as Giving God Pleasure through my reverent Obedience to His Ways.

‘Especially in these Last Days, beloved.’ We can only become a fully fruitful branch when we make this Sacred Covenant with Him. After which He promises such courage and joy and boldness and freedom that we could never gain in any other way.

Therefore, determine to “Fly above the clouds,’ dear Christian! And behold The Great Adventure God has always wanted for us.

Selah. Selah.