Daily Devotional For Tuesday, July 14, 2026
Good morning Southside! It is a wonderful day to be alive in the Lord. Our daily devotional for today comes from Psalm 128:
“How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, Who walks in His ways. (2) When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, You will be happy and it will be well with you. (3) Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, Within your house, Your children like olive plants, Around your table. (4) Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed, Who fears the Lord. (5) The Lord bless you from Zion, And may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. (6) Indeed, may you see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!” (NASB).
This is a psalm that is part of a group of 15 psalms called “Psalms of Ascent” found in Psalms 120-134. These particular ascent psalms would have been read and sung as pilgrims made their way to Jerusalem to celebrate festivals such as Passover. The Feast of Weeks and The Feast of Tabernacles. In addition to being an ascent psalm, it is also considered a wisdom psalm. We can break into two parts: Psalm 128:1-4 and Psalm 128:5-6. So, let’s look at it.
Verses 1 and 4 form sort of bookends for the first part. Both verse 1 and verse 4 call the reader to have reverence for the Lord with the blessings disclosed in verses 2-3. Grapevines and olive trees were common staples in Palestine as salt and pepper are in our time. These are promises of a fruitful labor and a fruitful family. This is a psalm that speaks of life under the Lord’s blessings. The first four verses speak of prosperity from the Lord’s blessings and the last two verses are a prayer for continued blessings from the Lord.
In verse 1, godly living resorts in joy for the believer. Meaning, joy comes from obedience to the Lord. The word “walk” in verse 1 denotes consistent devotion, reverence and obedience to the Lord. Thus for the psalmist, his beliefs about the Lord shapes and determines his behavior. In verse 2, there is the promise from the Lord that this person will eat whatever his or hands have planted and labored to produce. This is a huge promise since most people during this time were borderline living on a starvation existence.
In verse 3, as we read about grapevines and olive trees, these were used to symbolize peace and prosperity (sitting under a vine see 1 Kgs. 4:25; Micah 4:4; Zech. 3:10; sitting under an olive tree see Ps. 52:8; Ps. 104:15). A wife is in this psalm, but a spouse who fears the Lord contributes to these blessings from the Lord. Such a spouse is a source of refreshment and joy. This is why God commands us to not be unequally yoked (see 2 Cor. 6:14-18).
It is sad for me as a pastor to see the number of wives sitting in worship without their husbands. Their husbands want nothing of God, knowing that man is not going to heaven nor can they partner together on the things of the Lord. Yet, so many women marry unsaved and/or men out of love. These men may claim they are a Christian but their lives show no visible evidence of it. God blesses not only the godly individual, but also the godly family.
In verse 4, fear or reverence for the Lord brings God’s blessings. Knowing Whose presence we stand in should create within us at time what Isaiah felt in Isaiah 6:1-7. In verse 5, this reminds us of Isaiah 146:10. To families who love, serve, have reverence and fear for the Lord, as well as obedience, they experience generational blessings. He prayers that Jerusalem, Zion, will have this same attitude and thus experience God’s blessings also.
In verse 6, prays for the hope to see one’s grandchildren honoring God with their lives as a result of seeing their parents and grandparents honoring the Lord. This psalm emphasizes that God’s blessings are the enhancement of our lives – not our property, not our possessions, not our positions, and not our own power.
This psalm reminds us that God is the sole provider for all that we have. This psalm reminds us that God blesses us so that He can bless others through us (see Gen. 12:3; 1 Pet. 3:9). In the final analysis joy comes from a vital relationship with the Lord who gives blessings, not just from the blessings the Lord gives.
Reflection Assignment: Is your walk with the Lord consistent? Is the Lord able to bless you from your walk with Him so that He can bless others through you? In your home, are you working to keep and protect generational blessings from the Lord by making sure your family, children and grandchildren have a consistent walk with the Lord? Is God able to bless our town, Wilmington, because of your walk with Him?
Scripture To Meditate On: Luke 1:15, “He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear Him” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, I want my family and each generation that comes from me to love You, obey You and be a blessing to others through You. For those in my family who are lost, I pray You bring them to salvation in Christ. Please use and help my family to be a blessing to the world for You Lord. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly