A NURTURING ENVIRONMENT
Psalm 128:3–4
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children like olive plants around your table. Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.
In Psalm 128, God says that the family who lives under His kingdom values will be reflected through a wife who is like a fruitful vine and children like olive plants. A vine clings, but it also climbs. A healthy vine will spread out and take over a whole wall of a house. When a husband is providing the right kind of atmosphere, his wife can develop her strengths and abilities. She can grow, becoming a better woman than she ever was. The wife also has a responsibility here. She is described as the wife “within [the] house,” meaning that a woman must prioritize the nurturing of her home and family above all else to be fully blessed of God and reap the full benefits of the fear of God in her home. All of her outside activity must be measured by whether it complements or conflicts with the priority of family.
When it comes to children, the psalmist changed the imagery from a vine to olive plants. Notice they are not trees yet but plants. Olive plants take up to fifteen years to mature, and they have to be nurtured. When they are nurtured properly they provide a multitude of benefits since olive oil was used for cooking, medicine, massage, and many other profitable opportunities. The psalmist was saying that we must provide a nurturing environment for our children if they’re going to grow up to be olive trees. The beauty of an olive tree was that when it matured it could produce olives for hundreds of years. That’s the picture of productive children raised in a nurturing environment.
REFLECTION: Take a moment to appreciate this imagery that honors every member of the household. How has God designed you to bless your family? (If you are not married, He has given you the privilege of blessing family members and church family.) Thank God for the other members of your family—and for allowing you the privileges within your own role. Families reflect Your character, God, through the love they show one another, and You have promised Your blessing to those families who align themselves under You. I praise You for this great gift.
No Comments