Planted by the Stream

When I find myself needing encouragement, I like to read the Psalms. When things in the faith start to feel a little too brainy, and my heart is lacking, the writings of the Psalmists provide reality. They screw up, they doubt, they fear, they ask the same questions I find myself asking... they're real life. Tonight, we were talking about struggling. I know that I am feeling some dryness in my faith right now. The culture we've been transplanted into manages to suck life out of you pretty quick, turns me into a cynic even faster.

I'm not feeling useful, not feeling that whatever God's purpose for bringing my family out here is being touched. Momentary blips to the contrary wither and blow away quickly, leaving behind an uneasy, underlying disquiet... I've known deep discontent, and it's insidious assault, suffocating joy. I have neither the time, nor the desire to trod that path. We have the utter resolve that there is no denying that God brought us here, and that His purpose for doing so serves both the purpose of His everlasting glory, and our everlasting joy. So, with that battle raging in my heart tonight, I return to Psalm 1, seeking joy in the Word, comfort in the presence of my King, and rest for my soul.

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." 

Not feeling fruitful? Feeling dry, weak, short on delight? What is the answer?

The Word! The man who is like a tree, planted by streams of water... water which yields fruit in its season, with leafs that do not wither, that is the man I desire to be tonight. He is the man who delights in the law of the Lord, who loves the Word of God. He gives his mind to the business of knowing the law. He is the man whose roots grow deep in the streams of living water, he is imbibed by this water, this word, this Jesus. He is a man who seeks after Jesus's promise that "whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14-15)

The Psalmist knew that the Word of God was the well-spring of living water, and only by rooting oneself in the fertile soil of the stream can a man hope to prosper, to bear fruit. And God desires for us to know that as well.