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Psalm One
"Roots Grow In Winter"
A while back I had the pleasure of reading a book by a man named Stephen Covey called “The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.” Many of you I know have read this as well. In the first few pages he documents the explosion of books aimed at helping people be more successful.
His book sold millions of copies. People want to be successful. They want to flourish and do well. They want to prosper. Their criteria by which they measure prosperity may leave something to be desired, but whatever prosperity is, they want it.
I want it too. After all is said and done I want my life to have counted for something. I want it to be real. I want it to flourish. I desire that it have something permanent and lasting about it.
One of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits is that we begin with the end in mind. That is, when we embark on some endeavor, we have a good idea of where we want to end up, and we make our plans accordingly. This is a wise principle in any activity in life. But oddly, we may live our entire life, which is just a beginning to our eternal existence, without our ultimate end in view. Or we may live with the wrong ultimate end in view. We may be orienting our lives around a falsehood. We may be the world's best at following wise patterns of success in this life, and prove in the end to have followed a phantom.
The Psalms as you know served as a book of praise and worship. The various Psalms were sung, spoken, preached, read aloud, and accompanied by music, during the worship of the temple. The Psalms were the heart and soul of Hebrew corporate worship. They proclaimed in the form of song and poem the truth about God.
Psalm 1, along with Psalm 2, probably was composed as an introduction to the whole psalter. It serves, if you will, as a doorkeeper to the temple. It confronts those who would enter as part of the worshipping assembly. See, our worship is real and acceptable worship only if we have made a choice to follow God, only if we have forsaken the way of evil, and only if our life-course is God-ward. Our worship is real only if it is informed with truth. We are to worship in spirit and in truth. And it is our meditation upon the word of God which leads us into this truth, and thus into true and pleasing worship. And this Psalm, which guards the door of worship, always reminds us of the fact that ultimate judgment looms over our lives and our worship. It reminds us that all is well that ends well, and that all is bad that ends bad.
This whole endeavor of following or not following the way of God is very serious. We can reject the way of God. We can choose a life course that will make it impossible for us now to enter into true worship, even if mix it up with the saints in being a part of the worshipping community. We can fool one another now for a while. The worshipping community is both wheat and tares. There are those who are God's and those who are not God's all mixed together. But although those who are righteous in Christ and those who are not can mix together in our earthly assembly, the wicked will not be able to stand in the judgment, or participate in the eternal assembly of the righteous.
Psalm One sets before us two ways of life. You can see this contrast most clearly in the last verse. Verse six reads, "For the Lord watches over, or knows, the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." This means that there is a substantial and intimate connection between God on the one hand and the life of the righteous on the other hand. He knows His sheep, and His sheep know Him. He cares for and identifies with His own. He knows what their life is all about, and He watches over it till the end. The life of the righteous adds up to something. It is rewarded. It doesn't just fade away. It connects up with reality and continues into the future.
This is contrasted with the way of the wicked. The way, the life course of the wicked will perish. It will not add up to anything. It will be like a vapor, a dream. Unconnected from God, it is unconnected from what is real and substantial and lasting. It is like chaff, we read in verse four, which just blows away. It is as nothing. It is one big waste.
I don't know about you, but I am not comfortable with the terminology used here. To say that there are two ways, two groups of people, one wicked and one righteous, and to presume that I am in the righteous camp, feels harsh and well, self - righteous to me. Because I am aware of my own wickedness I am not comfortable using the word for others.
But there is a danger that I would be falsely humble here, too religiously correct for my own good. Yes, I am God's child, not of course through a righteousness of my own, but through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. But even though my righteous is not my own, I am nevertheless truly righteous in Him, and thus I am counted as one of the righteous. I am on the way of righteousness, pursuing in Him a life set apart for Him. I was truly wicked and rebellious before He saved me, and wickedness still plagues me, but I am by His Spirit growing in righteousness, and am by His grace on the path of righteousness.
And as uncomfortable as I am contrasting myself with others, those who are outside of Christ are still caught up in rebellion against God. As sincere as they may seem and as nice as they may be, if they are not living in Christ in the way of righteousness, they will perish, and their lives will have amounted to nothing.
So, as I have said, this Psalm contrasts two ways, that of the righteous and that of the wicked. In verse one we see that the righteous man is said to be blessed. We might translate that phrase, "Oh, the happinesses of the one who." And what characterizes the blessed life? Well, the blessed or happy man doesn't do some things and he does some other things. We see in verse one that he doesn't let himself be influenced by the wicked. In verse two we see that he finds great delight in the word of God, and thus in God. The result in verse three is that he bears fruit when fruit is needed. His life is characterized by a certain prosperity. He will stand with the other saints in the assembly of God's people, verse five, and will remain standing through the judgment.
The wicked man is not blessed like the righteous man. He does not take delight in the word of God. His life, if you will glance at verse four, amounts to chaff that just blows away. It is empty and futile. He will not stand with the people of God on the last day. His fate is one of perishing.
One way listens to God and derives insight and wisdom from Him and follows that wisdom as a way of life. The other way listens to the counsel of the ungodly, or the prevailing opinions, and follows that counsel. This counsel may have to do with personal behavior and may be leading us into personal sin and immorality and compromise. It may come as peer pressure at school, from peers and colleagues at work, from TV, or from the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Or this counsel or prevailing opinion may have top do with editorials about social structures and politics and public policy. This prevailing public opinion may be right wing or left wing, it may be Rush or Mario, Hillary or Elizabeth. Both right wing capitalistic and left wing socialistic ideologies are idols for their followers. The word of God cuts into the heart of both.
You see a progression of evil here in verse one. You see a progression from thinking to behaving to belonging. You see a person listening and taking the advice of the wicked, then walking in the way of the wicked, then sitting with and fully identifying with the wicked. This shows three degrees of departure from God. First we accept the advice of the world, then we become party to its ways, then we come to share in its scoffing attitude towards the truth. The farther in we are drawn into this progression, the harder it is to repent. The process can be subtle. We can find ourselves hardened before we realize it. Even this very week, if I know you as human beings as I think I do, I would bet that each of you has struggled to some extent with the temptation of following ungodly counsel. you may have gotten it from a friend, or from a workmate, or from the radio, or from your own mind, but you have struggled. Will I follow the counsel of the wicked, or will I do what I know is right?
From whom do we get our advice about living? Is it really trustworthy? Kids. do those friends who are leading you away from the path of God, do they really know so much? Are they heading down a course that will bring joy and good to them? Who are you listening to?
This progression into sin and godlessness in verse one is contrasted with the way of the righteous in verse two. The truly happy person is the one whose delight is the law of God. The noun here for delight is a lovely word. It speaks of that which gives the righteous person pleasure. The object is beautiful and desirable. The word is elsewhere used of the delight a man finds in a woman, or woman in a man. The delight is totally human. It is emotional and intellectual. The truly happy man or woman is the one that finds such joy and pleasure in the law of God.
Now the word 'law" does not speak merely of the ten commandments, or even of the first five books of the Old Testament.
The "law" in its broadest sense refers to all Biblical revelation. This includes things about God's character, but also about His deeds, what He had done for Israel in bringing her into the land. It includes lots of commandments, directives for how people are meant to live. There are in Scripture promises to ponder, and prophecies, and biographical sketches, examples of lives lived in obedience to God and lives lived in rebellion against God. Really, we can substitute the word "word" for the word "law" and have the right meaning. The blessed man delights in the word of God.
The blessed one does not merely take delight in the word from a distance, as if looking at and admiring the Mona Lisa at the Louvre.
He doesn't just admire the word, he meditates upon it. He digests it.
One's mind quickly thinks of devotions and quiet times here, but that may or may not be a correct picture. What does David mean by meditation?
Is my meditation on the word just an escape from the world, my corner of peace and silence away from the storm of life? Is this like going off and watching a good movie and getting away from life for a while? I think that there is an element of escape in meditation upon God. We are made to worship Him in private as well as in public. We go to Him knowing that reality is in Him. Our real life is in relationship to Him. We are made to relate to Him person to person. Often we have to just get away to do this. Sometimes we have to get away from the rat race even to relate to our friends or spouses in a real person to person way. Susan and I need to get away for a few days every so often, just to get acquainted again.
But we mustn’t view our times of meditation as just an escape. No, they are also to prepare us for the real world.
Meditation isn't just a silent intellectual or spiritual gaze. Yes, it does include quiet spirit to spirit communion with God, but also much more. The word in the Hebrew carries the idea of chatter or murmuring. It is talking. It is conversation with God. It is struggle and argument. It is worship and quiet praise. We hear God in His word and we talk back to him. Meditation is study. It is preparation for battle and warfare. It happens morning and night. All that we confront day to day causes us to take new questions back to God , back to our time of reflection, whenever that may be.
Meditation is work. It involves thinking about the word of God. It may involve a serious discussion with God. It may mean wrestling with God. It means mulling things over. For a few minutes? Yes, and for hours, for days, for years. What does this text mean? What does Jesus really mean when he says this or that? How do I relate this to my situation? What perspective of life or what personal behavior does this ask me to change? What does this say about issues in my community, about racism or housing or education?
The goal is that we know and love God, and that we live a life of faith in him in the midst of a pagan, idolatrous society. The goal is that we be transformed. The result is that we are increasingly able to be what God calls us to be when we need to be that, in the midst of day to day life.
I want to emphasize here that in order to know God in a personal way, in truth, as He is, our knowledge of Him and communion with Him comes as He reveals Himself in His Word. We find God in His Word. It is through the written word of God that God has chosen to come to us in the Holy Spirit. As the spirit opens up the Word to us, He opens up Himself and the Father and Son to us.
More and more in our day this idea that God reveals Himself to us in human words is scorned and ridiculed. Because of this, more and more professing Christians claim to know God in ways contrary to what Scripture reveals about God.
But real knowledge of and relationship with God comes as we meditate upon the Word of God, and have our thoughts disciplined by what God has revealed.
The Psalm goes on to say in verse three that the one who meditates upon the word will be like a tree, a tree planted beside a canal of water, a source of water that does not dry up. Unlike other trees that may experience drought, whose leaves may fall off, and whose fruit may never come, this tree has roots that stay in touch with life and nourishment. There may be scorching wind and dryness, but this tree has its roots in ground that is kept moist by water canals that do not dry up in the summer heat.
During a drought, some trees will shed leaves in order to keep from drying out. River birch trees may do this several times in a summer. Of course, in a bad drought, a fruit tree will not bear fruit, or the fruit will be all shriveled and dry.
The Psalm suggests that we, like that tree planted by the canals of water, will bear fruit in season. The Psalm gives us an analogy. Just as the tree that is planted by streams of water does not wither during times of drought, and just as it does in fact bear fruit in season, so the person who delights in the word of God and who meditates upon it will prosper in all he does. Fruit bearing is one sign of our prosperity as people.
What for us is this fruit borne in season? Well, it may be that we have Christ-like character in a tough situation. We all face people and situations each day that God uses to refine our character and train us in patience. Or the fruit we bear may be wise and timely words when we are confronted by a friend in need. It may be that we are able to recognize a real temptation when we see it, and have the ability to escape or face it. Like Jesus in the wilderness, we are ready, even though we almost certainly like Him do not feel ready, to meet the Devil, and see his cunning, and face him down, relying on that word we have hidden within our hearts. Bearing timely fruit may mean that we see our idolatry just in the nick of time, just before we compromise ourselves or lead others astray. It may be that we are called to challenge in a timely way some great evil, such as our rampant materialism and worship of economic growth. We may not feel our response is so timely and in season, but it is what God has been preparing us for. It is our fruit in season
Have you ever wondered why we plant grass seed in the fall. I mean, in a way, it seems odd that we would plant seed in the fall at all. We don't do it in order to have a nice winter lawn, but to have a nice summer lawn. All winter you may not even see the growth. The lawn may even seem brown. The grass is there green and growing if you look close, but its not growing much. But the roots are growing. All winter those little grass roots grow deeper and deeper, stronger and stronger, waiting for spring. And when the warmth of spring comes, it's like overnight, and there is this lush lawn. There is evidence of health. Growth can occur because the roots are strong.
So it is when we regularly meditate on the word of God, when we regularly pray over it, study it, struggle with it, as we get to know God in it and through it. We are digging our roots down. We are developing a foundation. We are preparing for the ebb and flow of life. We are being made ready to bear fruit in season, when it needs to be borne. We cannot know what is coming our way in this life. The only way to prepare for the unknown day to day is to keep digging our roots into the nourishment of the word. We find God there. Knowing Him, and knowing what He requires of us is what prepares us to bear fruit in season.
I don't want to stretch the analogy too far, but in our part of the country you don't plant grass seed in the summer. The sun is too hot, and the young grass seedlings wither before the roots can dig deep enough into the ground.
Likewise, when you wait until life presses upon you before you decide to take the word seriously, it may be too late. You have no roots. Your life isn't rooted in the word of God, and thus in God. The heat of the day is too great. You wither. Your life fades. There is no substance. Don't wait until you think you need the Word before you delight in it and meditate upon it. It may be too late. So many people spend time in the word when they feel spiritual, when they feel close to God, or feel, a great need for Him. When you feel dry you just don't bother. You may feel that You just aren't connecting with God, so why try. But see, then when you are weak and your roots are shriveling up, your ears become strangely attentive to the counsel of the wicked, and your life to the way of sinners. You are in a dangerous place. Get back to the word, feelings or not.
Now as we have seen, there is an analogy here in the Psalm in verse three. Just as the tree planted by the water canals will bear fruit in season and keep its leaves even in times of drought, so will the man who delights in the law of God prosper in all he does.
Wait a minute here!
Is this an absolute promise or a general statement?
The Psalm writers themselves knew that the wicked do indeed prosper and that the righteous often suffer. Read this verse of Psalm one next to Psalm 73, which is concerned with the fact that the wicked do seem to prosper, and you are left scratching your head, wondering, "now what does he mean?"
I think that there is some correlation between our success in life and our obedience to those principles of living taught to us in Scripture. But God does not promise to the believer material prosperity and a life of success, at least as success is normally defined.
I have been thinking a lot this week about prosperity. What makes for a prosperous life? What is it about a person that would make you say that he or she is flourishing or thriving? What would make you say about a life, now that was a successful venture!
A prosperous person is one who has riches and enjoys and will be able to continually enjoy these riches.
You’ve seen the TV commercials where the couples are out on a camping trip, at a lodge, sitting on the veranda, drinking a Bud or a Miller or whatever, and one of them says, "it doesn't get any better than this." Despite the intention of the commercial, there is always a touch of pathos or sadness in such a statement. Come Monday they will be back in the city, back in the rat race, back in the grind. Not only that, but to think of any experience in this life as "the ultimate" is tragic. Why? Because life is much longer and greater than this life. And these ultimate experiences seldom have such unmixed total happiness anyway. So to think of that weekend at the cottage as the peak on your eternal life happiness graph is really not such an encouraging thought.
See, a life is prosperous that ends prosperously, or that continues prosperously. There is much truth to the old saying, "all's well that ends well." Better a hard life that ends happily than an easy life that ends tragically. Better rags to riches than riches to rags. Better to fight with your spouse in the morning and make up and then have a good day with a good ending, than to to have a good day that ends with a fight and an anxious sleep. Better a poor man in this life with eternal rewards and eternal riches, than a rich man who must leave his toys at the grave and face eternal grief and sorrow.
See, the fleetingness of life turns happiness into sadness. I may be putting one of my daughters to bed, snuggling, giggling, each saying I love you, when she is struck with the thought that she will grow up, that I will grow old and die, and that this will change. She says with a little mist of water in her eyes, "Daddy, I don't won't to grow up." So there is the temptation that the my awareness of the fleetingness of the experience will turn the joy to sadness. That is, until I remember that in Christ the relationship isn't fleeting, and that in the new heaven and new earth there will be an eternal joy of relationship that will make this experience pale by comparison. So I have to explain to her that as we grow older and follow Jesus together, yes we will know some sadness and loss, but that God will give us eternal life together, and that we can be happy now because our relationship lasts forever.
So to determine what is a truly prosperous life, we have to look at the whole thing, at the reality of eternal existence.
A prosperous person is one who has riches and who is able to enjoy them now, and continue to enjoy them eternally. What makes a man rich in this sense? A truly rich man invests in things that he can have forever. He makes his way through this life in a way that will be in harmony with his eternal goals. His course of life is one that fits him for his eternal environment and calling. He lives now with the end in view.
The truly rich man does not feel the sting of sadness when experiencing a happy thing. He sits there at the lakeside, feet up on the porch rail, and thinks to himself, "You know, this is OK, this is good. This gives me a little taste of life and riches with Christ in the New Heaven and New Earth. Thank you, Lord, for a glimpse of the good life!" He knows that this isn't the peak on the eternal happiness chart, but just a small little upward blip before the high plateau coming. It's just a little rise in the valley the gives him a good view of the mountains.
The truly rich man has the eternal God as his friend now. If we don't like God now, we won't like Him later. If we don't like His character and His ways now, we won't like them later. The rich life is one lived in harmony with the will of God. The course of life of the prosperous person will be a course of life that will fit into the New Heaven and New Earth. It will find richness in God's presence, in relationships with God's people, in selfless love of others, in service in and to the world.
The prosperous life can be lived in prison, in poverty, in seemingly hopeless situations. It is not a life of ease, but of contentment, of trust, of faith, of hope. The prosperous life can even be racked with turmoil as one seeks to follow God and understand Him in the midst of a painful world. One thinks of Jeremiah, faithful to God, yet experiencing then brutality of rejection and scorn. The person who delights in the word and will of God may often be confused as he tries to understand God's word and God's ways. He may be called like Jeremiah to pass up certain privileges and pleasures now knowing that there is reward later. Richness come in having God, in knowing Him, in living in a way that pleases Him, and doing so with the joy of knowing what it is you have. We are told that in Christ we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing.
The prosperous man knows he has these riches, knows how to access them, and knows he will continue to have them in increasing measure. So he doesn't think too much of earthly riches even if he has them, and he doesn't wallow in despair if he doesn't. He knows he has the pearl of great price, and that he will keep on having that pearl, and that is enough for him.
So this is the way of the righteous. But what about the wicked? Remember, this Psalm contrasts two ways, that of the righteous and that of the wicked. The contrast between the two images used to describe these two ways couldn't be greater. A lush tree, bearing fruit in season is contrasted with the dry chaff of wheat. The wicked are like the chaff of wheat, which is blown away from the threshing floor. What is real and useful for the person threshing the wheat? It is the kernel of wheat that falls back to the floor. It is then gathered together and used. The chaff is blown away by the wind. It is nothing.
The wicked will not be able to stand in the judgment. They will not be included in the assembly of God's people in the New Heaven and New Earth.
If this is the true fate of a life lived not according to the word of God, then that life doesn't amount to much in the end. Wisdom would have us begin this eternal existence with the end in view. There is a connection between our life now and what comes after.
Life, reality, substance comes from living in fellowship with God. May this be our path. May His word be our joy, and His presence our delight.
Copyright © 1998 by Joel Gillespie. Reproduction for non-commercial use is permitted, provided the material is not altered, and provided that the copyright notice is retained.
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