Monday, July 13, 2009

July 13, 2009

"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 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, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." Psalm 1


One more thought before we move on from Psalm 1. I have talked about three things you should NOT do if you want to be blessed and two things you SHOULD do if you want to be blessed.

Here is what the blessing looks like:

1) "He is like a tree planted by streams of water that brings forth fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither...." The first aspect the of the blessing is stability. Few things are more stable than a healthy tree. My neighbor had one that send out roots and one of the roots ran under my blacktop. That is not a good combination. But in the case of a tree planted by the water, that is a best case scenario. One of the blessings that God wants to pour into your life is stability. Will you put down roots into His love and grace?
2) "Whatever he does prospers" A second aspect of the blessing is success. One of the reasons that you will be blessed with success is that you will be meditating on His law. When you know His law and obey it, you will accomplish God's will. For the believer, God's will = success. Another reason for enjoying success is the stability you have from planting your roots in the grace of God. Stability leads to success. I have a dear friend in ministry who has been at his church since 1973. When he went there it was a struggling congregation of 25 people barely clinging to life. Nowadays, they enjoy nearly 3,000 people on two campuses plus a Spanish-speaking congregation. Lucky? I don't think so.
3) "The Lord watches over the way of the righteous....." Another blessing of the blessing is safety. I remember as a child seeing a commercial on TV (which was a new invention back then) and the tag line for the commercial was, "Sleep well tonight, your Air Force is on guard." That made me feel safe because I knew our Air Force was stronger and better than any other air force that might threaten us. We need to feel safe. God wired us that way. And the safety we need is the safety of knowing that even though the Air Force is on duty, God is watching over me and He is way bigger and stronger than any enemy that would threaten us. It is good to know that He watches over the Air Force, too!
It is good to desire blessings. It is good to pursue them. But the way to know blessing in your life is to know the Blesser! Don't do the three things that Psalm 1 speaks of. Do the two things it prescribes, and you will be able to know God and enjoy His blessings of stability, success, and safety!
I don't know how that sounds to you, but I think it is TREEMENDOUS!