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Bearing Spiritual Fruit
Psalm 1 describes the one who chooses to follow God as being like “a tree planted by streams of water.” This tree “yields its fruit in season,” and its leaves do not wither. C.H. Spurgeon, in his commentary The Treasury of David, goes on to describe this tree as “not a wild tree, but ‘a tree planted,’ chosen, considered as property, cultivated and secured.” Spurgeon paints a picture of God as a loving caretaker, or husbandman, who chooses, plants, and looks after his trees. Jesus paints a similar picture in John 15:1-9. Here, he describes himself as a vine and us believers as its branches. God the Father is seen…
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Keep on looking
“Blessed is the one… whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season.” -Psalm 1:1-2 “It may be, at once reading or looking, we see little or nothing; as Elijah’s servant went once, and saw nothing; therefore he was commanded to look seven times. What now? says the prophet, ‘I see a cloud rising, like a man’s hand;’ and by-and-by, the whole surface of the heavens was covered with clouds. So you may look lightly upon a Scripture and see nothing; meditate often upon…
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Judgment? Who does God think he is?
While the first part of Psalm 1 talks about the blessing of the righteous person who follows the way of God, the second part of the Psalm talks about the judgment imposed on the wicked. The wicked are like trash that is blown away by the wind. Their path leads only to destruction. – from Psalms 1:4-6 The idea that God will judge our actions is not very popular any more. We somehow think that we should be able to do whatever we want to do with complete impunity. Who does God think he is? Why should he judge what we do?
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Growing in the Knowledge of God
“Blessed is the one… whose delight is in the law of the Lord… He is like a tree… which yields its fruit in season.” -Psalms 1:1-3 The psalmist writes in Psalm 1:1-3 about the value of meditating on “the law of the Lord,” what we know as the Bible. Anyone who has spent time reading the Scriptures and seeking to be taught by God knows that it can be a delightful and fulfilling experience. But it can also be frustrating. Sometimes the Bible is hard to understand. Okay. Truth be told, the Bible is pretty much always hard to understand. Some parts are relatively easy to get, like John 3:16.…
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Cooking with Martha – Sitting Down with Mary
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, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. – Psalm 1: 1-2 (NIV) The first verse of Psalm 1 describes the things that just aren’t done by someone blessed by the Lord. Those blessed by the Lord keep themselves out of trouble by not hanging around with those who are headed straight for it. In contrast to what he does not do, the blessed man will: – delight in the law…
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Are you ready to run away?
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. – Psalm 1:1 (NIV) Seeing how the Psalmist defines a godly man in Psalm 1, we first learn about the kind of person we should not be. We shouldn’t follow the advice of wicked people, we shouldn’t get comfortable with sin, and we should never teach others to do so. There is an interesting progression here in how the writer describes the motion of an ungodly man: first walking, then standing and then sitting. There is a sort of comfort creep at…
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Psalms – The Treasury of David
I have started to read The Treasury of David by C.H. Spurgeon. This fascinating commentary on the Psalms dates from 1869, but nonetheless has much to say to me and you in the twenty-first century. Designed to be a help to both ministers and lay people, Spurgeon’s commentary serves up quotes from other scholars such as Martin Luther and Matthew Henry, and summarizes passages succinctly in sidebars labelled “Hints to the Village Preacher.” Psalm One begins with a contrasting description of the one blessed by God. The first verse is a negative description of a godly man; the second verse is a positive description. Here, from the first verse, is…
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Assigning Value to Human Life
When my son was young, he used to collect hockey cards. He enjoyed tearing open a new package of cards to see what treasures it might contain, and spent many enjoyable hours organizing and viewing his collection. He had great binders full of cards, all sorted by team, and more binders for the doubles of his most valuable cards. All these are in a box gathering cobwebs in my attic today. At the time, though, they were very important to him. He would buy industry magazines that claimed to assign a value to each card. The value varied according to the prowess of the player, the ranking of the team,…
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Unintended Beauty
I was driving north on Highway 6 on a recent midsummer morning. It was about 7 a.m. and the sun was already heating up the day, in the midst of what could be classified as an unbroken heatwave. Suddenly, I saw to my left a vast sea of shining yellow gold. A field of mature sunflowers was basking in the morning light, its myriad faces smiling directly at the drivers passing up and down the road. It seemed to go on forever. I have no way of estimating acres, and I don’t doubt that, if I returned I would be stuck by how few there were. But at the time…
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Don’t throw away your shield
In his descriptions of the first century AD German tribesmen, the Roman general Tacitus wrote that it was a disgrace to throw away one’s shield. He was referring to deserting soldiers, who dropped their heavy shields and ran away from the battlefield in fear. His observation has meaningful application to the realm of faith as well.
