Fear. Blessings.

I've been making my way through the psalms this year, often reading several at a time. One of the benefits of this is seeing how certain themes are clustered together, so that several psalms will hit the same target from different angles. Or they might even offset each other.

For example, Psalms 127, 128, 129, 130 speak of God's blessings on the righteous--but speak of our absolute dependence on the Lord for blessing (127), our need to fear the Lord to obtain blessing (128), and that even the blessed man is at times afflicted (129). He hopes in the Lord (130) as he awaits God's promised blessings.

Also, I noticed a significant connection between some familiar verses in Psalm 128 and 130:

"Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways!" (Psalm 128:1)

"But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared." (Psalm 130:2)

Time for one more observation? I was thinking based on 128:1 that we often ask God to bless people we love. Well, maybe we should ask God to help them fear Him. The blessings will indeed follow.