Planted by the Stream
Bill is an older retired gentleman who lives alone and recently had to give up driving. He needs help to pick up groceries, prescriptions, and get to church on Sundays. “But you know what,” says Bill, “I love my days at home. I enjoy free worship music online and Bible teaching on the TV all day long.” Bill spends his days surrounded by Scripture, prayer, and praise.
The habits we keep influence where our hearts are planted. Psalm 1 describes the habits of someone who has found favor in God: they delight in His truth, meditate on it often, and therefore do not follow the rebellious pattern of the world (vv. 1-2). Hardship will come to everyone, but a life established in the ways of God “is like a tree planted by streams of water . . . whose leaf does not wither” (v. 3). Depending on our season of life, we might not be able to spend hours a day in Bible study. However, Jesus said He satisfies anyone who is thirsty that comes to Him, and the Holy Spirit fills His followers like a river (John 7:37-39). We can steep our hearts in living water through praise and Scripture, and also through caring for others, talking to God while we work, and asking for forgiveness when we mess up.
Following the wisdom of God plants our hearts in fertile soil. That life gets called righteous, and God watches over it (Psalm 1:6).
By Karen Pimpo- Daily Bread Ministries
Psalm 1 (NIV)
BOOK I
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
