Psalm 1:3
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.
But how does a man become fruitful? The phrase "He shall be" gives us a clue on where can we find the cause of this fruitfulness.
Psalm 1:1-21. Get saved by faith
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:1
blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
This verse refers to Christians because God does not call His people ungodly, sinners or scornful. So the first step to be fruitful is to get saved.
Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Getting saved in simple terms would be like receiving a container from God and storing yourself in it. We would describe this as “I saved a litre of water”. And God desire to fill us with faith. He would top up the container with more water. A big glass of water is more effective than a small drop of water because it can quench more thirst. So how does faith gets built up in our lives?
Psalm 1:2
But his delight is in the law of the Lord...
The word delight here means desire. Desire ourselves in the law of the Lord, the word of God increases our faith because
Romans 10:17
so then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
A man who loves the word of God has much more faith than a man who just attends a church regularly. When the word of God is spoken it comes forth as a spirit that flows into the hearer. This spirit builds our faith. It fills our container with waters. Psalm 73:10 describes a people who are thirsty for God’s word.
John 4:10
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
Psalm 73:10
Therefore his people return here, And waters of a full cup are drained by them.
John 4:14
But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
But hearing the word of God is not enough. Faith will leak. Paul in the book of Philippians emphasized on rejoicing in the Lord.
Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
But why the emphasis? Because trouble never stop coming. There will always be time when our faith is tested. Faith leaks out when we have fears or doubt in our heart.
But there is a solution to the leak! The next part of psalm 1:2 says "And in His law he meditates day and night."
Psalm 1:2
...And in His law he meditates day and night.
To meditating is to recall what was spoken repeatedly, talk about it and pray about it, doing this day and night without ceasing. Meditating on the word without ceasing helps us to internalize the word and live it out. But just the thought of spending time doing it seems to very difficult and troublesome isn’t it?
But let me ask you a simple question: how many of you here have changed certain pattern of your life or lifestyle because you heard a word said about it and you decide to change it?
But why did you change? You change because you recall of the word that was spoken regarding this issue isn’t it? And you make a decision to stick by it. This is like meditation. You have reminded yourself of the word of God for that situation.
And this plugs the holes in our container. This helps us to get on the right track with God and before you know it, Psalm 1:3 is happening in our lives.
As we continue doing these things, we will end up as what Psalm 1:3 says HE SHALL BE like a tree planted by the rivers of water, bringing forth fruit, its leaves will not wither and whatever he does shall prosper.
Amen!
Amen!
