Where are you planted?

 Where Are You Planted?

 

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.

PSALM 1.1-4

 

I am like a tree whose roots reach the water, whose branches are refreshed with the dew.

JOB 29.19

 

The world looks very different from the window of an airplane, doesn’t it? From the sky you can follow the pattern of farmland planted with crops as well as the crisscross of roads running through a city. You can trace a river or stream as it winds its way through the land. And along the edges of the river you usually see a lot of green growth. Sometimes plants far away from the river dry up due to lack of moisture, but the trees by the river have a ready supply of water that keeps them green and growing.

In Psalm 1 we see a picture of the kind of people who are especially happy and satisfied in life, the kind of people who are green and growing because of where they have put down roots. They’re people who say no to things that are wrong — things that are underhanded or outright evil. They choose their friends carefully, resisting the influence of people who give no thought to God. They don’t follow the crowd in making fun of faith or the faithful. But they say a glad yes to God. They read and think about God’s Word in the morning, throughout the day, and as they go to sleep at night — not because they have to but because they want to. It makes them happy.

When we come to God, he plants us where we can draw from his stream of living water. As our roots go deep, we grow and get strengthened.