The Righteous person

Psalm 1: 3

And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does he prospers.

An idea came to me today that I believe we will enjoy. Let’s take a trip, you and me, a journey of songs, as it were. Beginning today let us sojourn through the Psalms. Each day I will send you a verse out of a psalm beginning with Psalm One and continuing until Yahweh says, “Halt.” There are 150 Psalms. I do not intend that we do them all but perhaps we will do a couple of weeks’ worth. We’ll see but through this little adventure, I think we will get a better flavor of the Psalms. Sometimes you need to not bounce around so much in reading the Bible because you get a truer sense when you hang out in a book for a while. So, let’s jump in and see how we like this. Send me your comments. It might even be fun for you to anticipate which verse I will send the following day and who knows, if you send me your favorite verse in advance, well, maybe that will be the pick for the next day. So, tomorrow we will look at a verse from Psalm two. Which verse do you like?

Today’s verse is such a fun one. The psalms begin by characterizing the difference between a righteous person’s experience and a “wicked” person’s life. The righteous person is firmly planted. You can stop right there and shout. What image do these words paint in your mind? Being firmly planted means that the storms of life do not cause you to topple. You are not that tree that gets blown down in the storm. You have the ability to bend and flow with the wind all the while your roots, which run deep, firmly grasp the earth. They don’t strain to hold onto life in the tempest because you are simply rooted. You are so grounded that the winds of change or even turmoil do not disturb you.

You are firmly rooted near streams of water. That means that no matter how dry the season, or how infrequent the rain, you are planted at the stream where your roots do not have to search for water. You always have an ample supply because you are constantly resupplied by the flow of water past your roots. Go deeper in your celebration that you are planted by the stream because the stream represents the Holy Spirit of God. Meditate on that a little while.

You always produce fruit when you are supposed to. You are steady and reliable. Everyone knows they can look to you for fruit. You shall not wither and die. Your leaf remains young and supple. You provide shade and nourishment for all who come under your boughs.

Lastly, the piece de resistance, everything you do prospers. Write that one on a 3 X 5 card. Heck, make a poster of it. That is some good news, at least to all who believe it.

All the Time

2 Chronicles 26: 5

And as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered Him.

God is just waiting for you to seek His guidance so that He can lead you into His blessings. He wants to help you with all life’s questions and choices. He can give you His Godly wisdom rather than you having to search for answers. He can tell you in a minute what might take you years to research and learn. All He is waiting for is for you to seek Him in all of those things. You have to open the door to Him. You are going to prosper and succeed in all you do when you have the wisdom and guidance of the Lord. His all knowing can be your benefit.

We all need to learn to pray constantly. We need to be in prayer about every little thing. We’ve got to stop making prayer into some ritualistic event so that we can, with ease, enter into God’s presence at any moment. I am not saying that you shouldn’t have quiet prayer time with God in your private space. I am saying you cannot wait until you have that perfect circumstance in order to talk with the Lord. Why do you think He is omnipresent? It is so He can be with you every minute of every day. Sometimes I talk with Him while I am pumping gas or walking through the grocery store. We need to invite Him into all of those moments as well as our spiritual time. He wants to be our everyday Lord not just our Sunday Holy God.

We prosper and succeed when we seek Him and we need His help all of the time. Therefore, let us learn to seek Him often so that we can walk in His grace and in His wisdom.