Becoming a Tree of Life

Greetings everyone!

In the Persian Gulf there is a group of 33 islands known as the Kingdom of Bahrain. On one of those islands is a great desert called the desert of Bahrain. And in that desert, there stands a 32-foot-tall Ghaf tree that the locals call “The Tree of Life.” They call it this because it has stood alone in the middle of that desert for nearly 400 years. There are no bodies of water or other plants for miles, the temperatures get up to 114 F and the average amount of water that falls in the entire desert in a year is less than 3 inches. So how does this tree survive? Locals believe it is protected by their water god, Enki while others believe it sets on the location of the Garden of Eden. But scientists say that this tree lives because it has an extremely long tap root that goes deep down into ground water. 

Today I want to begin looking at one psalm each in the midst of these devos. And the one I want to look at today is Psalms 1.

It goes like this, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,” Let’s stop there for a moment. Who counsels you? Where do you get advice and guidance? To come from a wicked source does not necessarily mean it comes from a wicked person. It could come from a wicked motive or place. Do you get your counsel from your ego? From the culture around you? From the motive of selfish ambition? 

The Psalmist continues, “nor stands in the way of sinners,” Here we are faced with the question, “Which way are you headed?” Please understand, this question is not “Are you avoiding sin?” or “Are you perfect?” It is about direction rather than success. Which direction are you trying to move in. In the words of J.B. Philips, the goal is “steady upward progress”. We are now striving toward Christ rather than ourselves.

The Psalmist goes on to say, “nor sits in the seats of scoffers;” The scoffer is one who mocks other people – who is constantly judging, belittling, and marginalizing. The goal, generally, and usually sub-consciously, is to divert attention from self. They make enough noise about everyone else’s emptiness nobody will ever look at the emptiness of the noise-maker. So, what about you? Are you on the sidelines mocking those who are trying or are you in the game trying to help, empathizing rather than judging?

Back to Psalms 1, picking up in verse 2, “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night.”

The Psalmist suggests that the solution to all of these dangerous routes is to focus on what he calls the “law” but what he is referring to, essentially, is the Word of God. Why do people want the treasure map so bad in our stories? Because it leads them to riches beyond their understanding. Within the scripture we find counsel and a righteous way of life and a humbling truth that leads us to eternal life; more than that, to knowing God!

Look at what the Psalmist has to say about this man, 

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.”

2 things happen when we follow this Psalm: 

1.    We will bear fruit in our season. There will come times in our lives where the preparation we have done in the Word of God will yield profoundly – even when we don’t see it!

2.    We will not wither. If our tap root runs deep enough, to the Eternal and Almighty Source, and this passage suggests that scripture is the way to this source, then the words of the Apostle Paul will miraculously come true in our lives when he says, “For we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”

May you not be shaken, may you “delight in the law of the Lord and meditate in it day and night” and, in turn, find yourself deeply rooted and unstoppable.