I love this Psalm. It is full of strength for every day and wisdom for your life. If you love the Word of God and delight yourself in it - you will be strong and not be swayed - just like a big oak tree planted by water - blooming and fruitful - continually being fruitful in every season of your life - even your leaves won't wither (get dried out and ugly!!) - and you will prosper in all you do.
The key is being delighted in the Word of God. Let these days of reading thru the Psalms bring a delight to your day. There are so many promises to grasp on to and believe as you listen to David encourage you and get in on his conversations with the Lord. He speaks to himself all the time - it's a good habit to get in to!!!
This is a good Psalm to memorize!!!
Have a great Monday
4 comments:
Whenever I even hear Psalm 1 mentioned, my first thought is of a tree. Not just any ordinary tree, but a strong tree...firmly rooted. Sometimes trees are planted for fast growth to provide "instant" shade; but fast growing trees are soft wood and weak. About 3 years ago, we planted a new tree in our front yard...an Acalade Elm, a disease resistent version of the once flourishing, majestic American Elm. The tree was a 10-foot tall stick when we planted it, with lateral branches about 12 inches long. This tree has doubled in height in 3 years. How? A few months after we planted it, we trimmed off the bottom branches... about 12 of them! I'm sure our neighbors thought we were nuts...cutting all those branches off a new tree!!! But those branches would be too low to walk under and would be cut off in a year or two. We wanted to force the tree's growth energy into it's height and girth. The tree also had a single, vertical lead branch, which is good because a tree with 2 lead branches is weak and will eventually split. The Acalade Elm will provide an umbrella of shade as it matures to its 60 feet tall and 60 feet wide! Will we see it at it's full potential? Probably not, but someone will! (Last year we enjoyed a small patch of shade...enough to set our water in while working in the area!) Most trees have a tap root, which is as deep as the tree is tall. The lateral roots are as wide as the tree is wide. If a tree has a strong tap root, it will bend, not break, in a storm ... as our young elm did during a strong wind last summer.
We can have but one lead branch in our life if we are going to withstand the storms/pressures of life. That main lead branch must be Jesus, and our tap root the Word of God. A tree's legacy... shade, fruit, air quality, homes to birds and squirrels (our Acalade Elm was home to a family of robyn's last year on a low branch where we could see the babies!) We will leave a legacy to others in this life. Whether our legacy is strong or weak, good fruit or rotten fruit, depends on who we are tapping into for our growth.
I love the analogy of the tree and what it means both in the natural and the spiritual. There is so much truth to that. God sure doesn't have a plan for week trees that break at every storm but His plan is for strong ones that withstand the worst storm and that others can take shelter under. Great, Arlene!!!
Mom, Your comparison between physical and spiritual roots, pruning and tree growth is an encouraging eye-opener! I'm just glad that God doesn't get carried away with the pruning like Dad does! haha!
What caught my eye, was in verse 3 where the Message Bible says, "You are like a tree transplanted in Eden" -- hmmmm.... transplanted. The NKJV says "planted," but the meaning of that word includes "to transplant." Every time i've read this Psalm, i always assumed a picture of a young sapling planted from seed by the "rivers of water" -- not one that had been transplanted. But now i see it as another picture God paints for His children of how He can take us from a life born into sin and transplant us into "Eden" (Message Bible), where we are strong and healthy, "bearing fresh fruit every month, never dropping a leaf, always in blossom."
I'm glad God is the Alpha-gardener, knowing the right season (timing) to transplant each tree, the right site (place in His body) in which to make the transplant and how to care for the roots (life, foundation) in the whole process so the tree doesn't die but is fruitful for His glory.
Thank You, Lord, for transplanting me in Your time, to Your Eden and with Your care. As the tree, I have no say in what the Gardener should do - but like the song said that we sang Sunday -- "I am a tree... He loves like a hurricane... I bend beneath the weight of His love and mercy."
Wow - Heather - this is real insight into what this Psalm said. I love it!!!
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