Psalm 128; Acts 12:20-25

Psalm 128
This is sometimes called the marriage prayer because it was often sung at Israelite marriages.  The theme is that God should be the head of the home. I believe the words of this psalm can be applied to any relationship though it seems most applicable to the family. It speaks of a flourishing and vigorous family living in joy and harmony. This is the Lord's blessing when we fear him. As we all know, real individuals do not always act and react in predictable ways, and so we should not be discouraged when we find that relationships take hard work. Perhaps this psalm speaks of the ideal family, and it concludes with a prayer for God's blessing. I like the last verse, "May you live to enjoy your grandchildren." A long life is indeed a blessing, and I, for one, am thankful that I have lived to enjoy my grandchildren.

Acts 12:20-25
I had to do a little research to find out that the cities of Tyre and Sidon, though self-governing, were somehow economically dependent on Herod's country of Judea. For some unknown reason, Herod had grown angry with them and cut off their food supply. They sent delegates who won the support of Herod's personal assistant and were granted an appointment with Herod. Feeling his own importance, Herod, dressed in his royal robes, sat on his throne and made a speech to them. "The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, 'It's the voice of a god, not of a man!'" v. 23 tells us that God punished him immediately for accepting the people's worship instead of giving the glory to God. He died a horrible death, literally eaten alive from the inside out, by worms. Though God doesn't usually punish sin immediately or in such a dramatic way, it's important to remember that He will judge all sin. Pride is a serious sin and one that probably every human that has ever lived has had to wrestle with.

"Meanwhile, the word of God continued to spread and there were many new believers." v. 24.

When Barnabas and Saul had finished their work in Jerusalem, they returned (probably to Antioch if you will look at the beginning of Chapter 13) taking John Mark with them. John Mark was a cousin to Barnabas, and he eventually wrote what we have today as the Gospel of Mark.