I’ve been in the psalms with a dear friend for the past 5 months. I’ve learned so much about David, Israel, prayer, and what it truly means to be a woman after God’s own heart. For some time now, God has been nudging me to write through the psalms, reflecting and meditating. It’s the Lenten season, and while I’m not Catholic, I admire the fasting, the sacrificing, and the giving up of something you cherish or love for the 40 days of Lent. I’ve struggled this year with exactly what it is God is urging me to give up. While I have a couple small things I’ve chosen, I have felt God nudging me toward something more. My daughter tried to convince me to give up coffee, and while that would definitely be a sacrifice, it didn’t feel right. So, even though I’m a few days into the 40, today I know what God is leading me toward this season: writing on the psalms and sharing my heart through a short, daily meditation.
Let me open this up with saying that I am not a bible scholar. And, just in case you missed it, I am not a bible scholar. I went to a Christian college and took the quintessential bible courses, but I do not have a degree in theology. In some ways, I’m an accidental theologian. What I do have is a heart for the psalms, a Bachelor’s degree in English, a Master’s degree in English, a Master’s degree in Instruction, and half a Master’s degree in Communication. So, I read the bible like I read literature. I study the scriptures like I study literature. And, I think that gives me an interesting perspective. But, let me repeat one more time, I am not a bible scholar.
Maybe you are struggling to find a few minutes to be still and get in your bible, or maybe you, like me, just enjoy a little extra dose of Jesus in your daily life. Whatever your reason is for visiting, I pray that you can find hope and encouragement and reflection through these daily meditations.
Psalm 1:
The Tree of Life
1What delight comes to the one who follows God’s ways!
He won’t walk in step with the wicked,
nor share the sinner’s way,
nor be found sitting in the scorner’s seat.
2His pleasure and passion is remaining true to the Word of “I Am,”
meditating day and night in the true revelation of light.
3He will be standing firm like a flourishing tree
planted by God’s design,
deeply rooted by the brooks of bliss,
bearing fruit in every season of his life.
He is never dry, never fainting,
ever blessed, ever prosperous.
4But how different are the wicked.
All they are is dust in the wind—
driven away to destruction!
5The wicked will not endure the day of judgment,
for God will not defend them.
Nothing they do will succeed or endure for long,
for they have no part with those who walk in truth.
6But how different it is for the righteous!
The Lord embraces their paths as they move forward
while the way of the wicked leads only to doom.
I hate not being able to sleep at night. One of the worst things for me is when I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep. Once my mind starts, it’s nearly impossible to get it to stop. I spent years being an overthinker, so when I would wake up in the middle of the night, I would grab a thread and follow it until it was completely unravelled and the new day was dawning. It was terrible. Not only was I not sleeping, but I was spending so many useless hours conjecturing and analyzing things that were ultimately completely out of my control. It wasn’t until I read Joyce Meyer’s Battlefield of the Mind and studied the psalms that I shifted my middle of the night thinking from unraveling threads to prayer and praise. One thing I always admired about Brennan Manning was the fact that he talked about making the phrase, “Abba, I believe in you” his constant thought. In the middle of the night, when I wake up and my mind starts to wander, I try to fill it with that mantra: “Abba, I believe in you. Abba, I believe in you. Abba, I believe in you.” Over and over again. Until I can focus on my own prayers or Abba allows me to rest.
The psalmist tells us that the one who follows God’s ways meditates day and night in the true revelation of light, and while I think some of that might be metaphorical, I still believe there is literal application we can make here. If we follow God’s ways, we will find pleasure and passion in remaining true to the word of I Am and meditate day and night in the true revelation of light. The psalmist doesn’t give us a pass for the wee hours of the night when we wake up and our minds start unraveling. Instead, he gives us a plan. Think about what he has said here: we will find pleasure and passion in remaining true to the Word of I Am. We can’t find pleasure and passion in being true to the Word if we don’t know the Word. So, in order for us to fulfill that, we have to be in the Word and know the Word. A phrase I’ve heard over and over again in the past few months is “marinating in God’s presence,” and as strange as it sounds, I love it. I love the idea of soaking in the very presence and Word of God, and I believe that is the foundation of this psalm: we have to marinate in the presence of God, know his word, and meditate on the revelation of light that comes from that relationship day and night.
And, what a beautiful result comes from marinating in the presence of God. The psalmist describes how when we do just that, we are able to stand firm, like a flourishing tree planted by God’s design. What an amazing image the psalmist gives us here. When we marinate in God’s presence and meditate on his Word and seek his light in everything we do, we become beautiful, flourishing, unshakable, unmovable, always bearing fruit, always prosperous, always blessed. Even in the middle of the night. Even on our worst days. Even when chaos abounds. Even when tragedy happens. Even in the presence of the wicked. Even in the throes of temptation. Even when…
Because the Lord embraces our paths as we move forward.
I can’t think of a more fitting psalm to begin these meditations during this Lenten season. What do you need to give up in order to be able to marinate in God’s presence, to find pleasure and passion in his Word, and to meditate on the revelation of light both day and night? What is standing in your way of becoming the deeply rooted, flourishing tree bearing bountiful fruit that God planted you to be?
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