Every One That Feareth The Lord
Throughout my life I have heard from time to time of people being condemned for places they go, the people that may be present, and even more recently the people they hire. Unfortunately I have condemned some people for the exact same thing at sometime in my past.
This psalm begins in a very interesting way coming from someone in Israel.
A song of degrees.
Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord and walketh in his ways.
Psalms 128:1 GNV
Every one... The only conditions for this blessing is fearing the Lord and walking in His ways. This brings to mind other times people condemned others.
And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy Name, and we forbad him, because he followeth thee not with us. Then Jesus said unto him, Forbid ye him not: for he that is not against us, is with us.
Luke 9:49-50 GNV
And...
And he said unto them, Ye know that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew, to company, or come unto one of another nation: but God hath shewed me, that I should not call any man polluted, or unclean.
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive, that God is no accepter of persons. But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they of the circumcision contended against him,
When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
Acts 10:28, 34-35; 11:2, 18 GNV
Much like the religious leaders in Jesus time today there are people who assume that certain particular actions need to be taken to accomplish actually being spiritual, being blessed. Very similar to Psalm 127 the thought goes beyond what you do, but in truth it is the Lord not being "a part of it", but being one in heart with the Lord. Except the Lord build the house, and blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. The thought for Psalm 127 is, for instance, not teaching children the Word of God, but rather along with that and more so teaching them to know the God of the Word. In Psalm 128 it is "every one", no other qualifications than that they fear the Lord and walk in His ways. And the Lord alone is the one who determines who is fearing Him and who is walking in His ways. He gives every one through His Word knowledge and understanding that they might fear Him, and walk in His ways. It is their choice and theirs alone to choose whether to fear Him, to walk in His ways.