It’s a new year and a perfect time to start spending time in Scripture each day. I’m going to post a short devotional on the Psalms every day until we run out of Psalms. You can use the subscribe options at the bottom of this post to if you’d like to receive these devotionals in your email inbox, or you can subscribe to receive all blog categories. If you’re already subscribed to my blog posts, you will not receive these daily devotionals in your inbox unless you subscribe separately to the “Daily Devotions” category below.
Psalm 1:1-6
(Click or hover over the above Scripture reference link to read passage)
Psalm 1 sets up two options: You can be a tree with deep roots, bearing fruit, and standing strong when storms come… or you can be a tumbleweed that blows away with the wind and storms.
In contemporary culture, we tend to shy away from using labels for people like the psalmist does here of the wicked and sinners. My point isn’t that we need to blast people on social media for being wicked or sinners, or to forget that we are all sinners apart from Christ. My point is that in our desire (if I give the benefit of the doubt) to show love to our culture or in our desire (if I don’t give the benefit of the doubt) to be cool, accepted, and avoid be ostracized, we become blind to the fact that wicked and sinful forces are forming who we are and what we are becoming.
Every person on the planet is a tree and every one of these trees is being fed by something.
What is feeding you?
What are you taking in every day through your root system? What fruit is your life producing? The two are directly connected.
This isn’t a devotional or a psalm telling you what not to do, it’s a clear guide telling us what to do. Blessed is the one…whose delight is in the law of the Lord (the Bible), and who meditates on his law day and night.
What is it about the Bible that is so nurturing and life-giving?
It’s the love story of our Father’s love for us, his children. This love is our life source. We can think about it. Picture it. Experience it. Worship as a response to it. Think about how undeserving we are of it, yet how God lavishes it on us, all because of what Jesus made possible on the cross and in the empty tomb. We can let this love run through our root system, out our branches, producing this selfless love of mercy and grace in delicious fruit for all to enjoy.
One of the biggest deceptions within Christianity is that following Jesus will give you a life free from storms. The Bible is full of examples of God’s people enduring significant storms, with no signs of these storms slowing down. The difference is that when the storms come, our tree stands firm. The love from the Father to us stands firm. But if we’ve chosen to meditate on what’s wicked and sinful. If instead we’ve oriented our lives around our own selfishness and ignored God’s designs for life, love, and relationships, our tree blows away like tumbleweed.
It’s easier to walk in step with the wicked, but blessed is the person who doesn’t.
The solution is to hold on to this divine love story. To meditate on it. To delight in it. To know we are loved beyond measure by an almighty, holy God.
Prayer for the day: Almighty God, I humble myself before your holy power. You are holy and I am not. I deserve your wrath, but instead you give me your mercy, grace, and unending love! Jesus, thank you for making this possible. Thank you for taking my place on the cross, dying for my sins, making me a new creation and your child! Thank you Father that when you look at me you call me son / daughter. Your son; your daughter. Help me to meditate on this love throughout my day today. Help me to meditate on this love throughout my year this year. May 2021 be the year I plant my roots by your streams. May your love flow through me and give me life. May it bear fruit to the world around me. Give me strength not to follow the wicked and sinful ways of the world. I have tasted and know that you are good, Jesus. Help me to keep feeding off of you and your love each day. Give me strength to read your love story, the Bible, and follow your designs and will for my life, even when it doesn’t make sense, is painful, or uncomfortable. Comfort me with your love, Jesus. Amen.
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He is:
Author of Beyond the Battle: A man's guide to his identity in Christ in an oversexualized world
Host of the The Flip Side Podcast
Join an online men's small group led by Noah and team at BeyondTheBattle.net
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