Category: Psalm 1

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1:6)

It’s a promise.

It’s a warning.

Take it as such.

Happy Monday, Beloved.

Not so the wicked!  They are like chaff that the wind blows away.  Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, or sinners in the assembly of the righteous (Psalm 1:4-5).

I forget.

Sometimes I look at the nonbelievers around me, and I envy their “freedom.”

I forget.

I forget their destiny.  I forget that, without Christ, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.  Ever wonder why chaff blows away, while the wheat (that would be you) remains?  It’s because chaff has no substance, no weight. There is nothing solid to it, nothing to keep it from drifting away on the breeze.

So…it does.

What I sometimes think is freedom is just the aimless drifting of an empty soul.

One day they, like we, will stand before the Father.  They will not be clothed in the righteousness of Christ—they will be naked in their sin.  They will not stand firm in the armor of God—they will be crushed under the weight of their own well-earned guilt.  They will not rejoice in the fellowship of the saints—they will be ever, forever alone.

Sometimes I forget.  But when I remember, I praise God for his grace, and I remember never to envy the lost, but ever to pity them, to pray for them, to reason and wrestle and reach for them.

I’m telling you—I’d rather be a tree.

Happy Friday, Beloved.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (Psalm 1:3)

OK, I really appreciate the tree image.  On a day like today, when I’m running crazy, the idea of solid, deep stillness is delicious.  On a day like today, when so little that I do seems to be of real value, the thought of being useful, of fulfilling my purpose, is profoundly satisfying.  On a day like today, when my back aches and the gray is spreading, the hope of not withering invigorates me.

But I gotta tell you, I struggle with the rest of the verse.  I’m trying to be a Psalm 1 kinda guy, but I can’t honestly say that whatever I do prospers.  Maybe I’m not Psalm 1ish enough. Maybe I sit in the seat of mockers more often than I like to admit.  Maybe my meditation isn’t up to snuff.

Maybe.

On the other hand, maybe I don’t have a good enough grip on what it means to “prosper.”  Maybe God is prospering me in ways I can’t see, can’t even imagine.

Yeah, I like that “Maybe” better.

For all that I don’t know—which is plenty—there is one thing I do know.

I wanna be a tree.

Happy Thursday, Beloved.