Planted

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.”
– Psalm 1:3

One evening, many years ago, I ended up in a place I probably should not have been. I was making a delivery in an area of Los Angeles I had never been. While the truck was being unloaded, my partner and I decided to walk to a local restaurant for dinner. After returning to the dock, a worker inquired where we had eaten. When we told him the place we had gone, his response was, “You WALKED there?!” He then shared with us that we had gone into a dangerous neighborhood, and should not have been there. Nice to know. Of course, it would have been our own fault if any harm had come our way. We weren’t intentionally looking for trouble. Rather, we simply did not consider before departing that our path may not lead to good places.

Psalm 1 gives us a picture of those who are blessed. They are “planted” by the streams of God’s life-giving water. If you have trees near your home, you will notice that they are in the same place day after day. You will not wake up one morning to see that your oak tree has planted itself in a different part of your yard, or gone wandering around the neighborhood to look for a better home. Their roots hold them in place, and they draw nourishment from a consistent source. When that is the picture of our spiritual life, we will know the blessing of the Lord.

As a way of monitoring my state of spiritual “plantedness,” the psalm suggests three questions I can ask:

1. What is the source of the counsel I take? “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked” (v. 1). Many of the voices we hear do not carry godly counsel. Let us choose carefully.
2. In what (or whom) is my delight? “His delight is in the law of the Lord…” (v. 2a). Temporal things can seem very attractive, but the delight they offer fades quickly. Knowing the Lord will be our path to unending joy.
3. On what do I meditate? “…on his law he meditates day and night” (v. 2b). We may not have control over passing thoughts, but we do when they continue to pass again and again. Set your mind on things above (Colossians 3:2).

This is the beginning of a Lenten journey of Forty Words. They are words found in the Psalms of scripture, cries of the heart that reflect the range of our emotions and experiences. By the grace of God, may these words speak to us as we journey with Jesus toward the cross.