Daily Devotions for Difficult Days [38] A Fruitful Tree

A Tree by Water (Credit: Evi T on Uplash)

Water, water, everywhere

Most autumns, on my daily walks in the countryside, I will pick some wild blackberries. Just a few a day soon amounts to quite a lot. 

There is one spot on my walks where a stream runs through a field, and besides that stream are found the most lush blackberries on my whole walk. Life needs water. 

The space-research world knows that. At present it is consumed with finding a planet-like earth. They want proof that our beautiful planet - and we ourselves - are not unique. Success would justify, in their minds, evolutionary theories about the origin of life and therefore support their belief that no God is needed to create living worlds.

Guess what tale-tale sign they are looking for on these distant bodies? Water. Life requires water so a planet which supports life must have abundant supplies of water.

Today the psalmist uses this water-life image to describe the blessed life. 

 That person [the one who meditates on God's Word]  

is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither –
    whatever they do prospers.

⁴ Not so the wicked!
    They are like chaff
    that the wind blows away.

In fact the pslamist uses two images. 

One is of a fruitful tree planted by streams of water. The other, by contrast, is a tiny piece of chaff, the throw-away left over of a kernel of winnowed wheat.

The blessed man or woman is like a frutiful tree, the wicked man or woman is like chaff. The contrast could scarcely be greater.

Two great blessings come from feeding on God's Word.

Frutiful like a watered Tree

That person [the one who meditates on God's Word] 

is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither –
    whatever they do prospers.

This tree has fruit on it for all to see and enjoy. Leaves do not wither. Even in a drought, it remains healthy. This tree is the epitomy of both health and usefulness. 

The psalmist summarises what a frutiful tree means in human practise: "whatever they do prospers." There is, says the psalmist, a straight line to be drawn between secret meditation on God's Word and  spiritual health, usefulness and prospering. The Word is the cause and the effect is health and usefulness.

The second image reinforces the first. Chaff is the part of the harvested crop that is thrown away, useless and unwanted. I have seen it with my own eyes in India. The soft evening winds are used for winnowing the crop. Rice kernel and husk are both thrown into the air. The useful heavy rice falls back onto a winnowing fan to be used in feeding hungry mouths, while the unusable husk is blown into useless oblivion.

Do you and I want to live a blessed, useful and profitable life? The secret source of power is God's Word.

Solid like a watered Tree

But there is more to a watered Tree than beauty and usefulness, there is also rock-solid stability. The tree by the waters is not broken by the winds that blow away the chaff. Storms may come and storms may go, but the tree remains.

What kept Jesus during the storm of his forty day temptation? His mind was filled with the Word of God. We know that because every time he answered Satan's suggestions, Scripture poured out. 

What kept Jesus going on the cross? For the joy set before him he endured the cross: he knew from Scripture that God would not allow him to remain dead (Psalm 16). 

The great promises of God's Word kept Jesus going. And so it will be with us.

We are not saying that the tree won't sway. We're not saying that it won't creak. Jesus mourned the loss of friend Lazarus, he wept drops of blood in the Garden. We too may sway and groan in the howling winds: but we will not fall - that's the assurance we have. 

The tree will weather the storm because of the deep sources of divine life-giving water, and it will stay green, and it will bear fruit, and it will stand. God has promised to keep us from falling and to present us before the throne of God without fault and with great joy (Jude 24).

Summing it all Up

What wonderful encouragements to feed on God's Word! The man or woman who delights and meditates on God's Word will be like a tree planted by waters, not like chaff blown by the wind.

A beautiful Christ-like life - filled with the fruits of the Spirit!

A useful life - bearing fruit in season. Fruit is for the benefit of others, not the tree.

A strong life - not blown here and there, but strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

May we feed on God's Word and be found among the company of the fruitful blessed.

A SONG FOR THE DAY

This wonderful  song encourages us, whatever comes our way, to stand on the solid promises God has made in his Word.

From the breaking of the dawn
To the setting of the sun,
I will stand on every promise of Your word.
Words of power, strong to save,
That will never pass away,
I will stand on every promise of Your word.
For Your covenant is sure,
And on this I am secure,
I can stand on every promise of Your word.

When I stumble and I sin,
Condemnation pressing in,
I will stand on every promise of Your word.
You are faithful to forgive,
That in freedom I might live,
So I stand on every promise of Your word.
Guilt to innocence restored:
You remember sins no more!
So I’ll stand on every promise of Your word.

When I’m faced with anguished choice,
I will listen for Your voice,
And I’ll stand on every promise of Your word.
Through this dark and troubled land
You will guide me with your hand
As I stand on every promise of Your word.
And you’ve promised to complete
Every work begun in me,
So I’ll stand on every promise of Your word.

Hope that lifts me from despair,
Love that casts out every fear,
As I stand on every promise of Your word.
Not forsaken, not alone,
For the Comforter has come,
And I stand on every promise of Your word.
Grace sufficient, grace for me,
Grace for all who will believe,
We will stand on every promise of Your word.

Stuart Townend

You can sing along HERE.

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Our Father in Heaven,

We thank you for the promises of your Word. We thank you that as we delight and meditate on your Word, your Spirit in turn makes us like a fruitful and useful tree planted by streams of water. 

Help us to feed on your Word. Help us to make your Word a priority in our daily lives, help us to instruct our children in the Word, help married couples to encourage one another in the Word.

Save us from living a useless chaff-like life.

May we be among the blessed for whom it can be said "everything they do prospers."

We ask these things in the Name of Jesus

Amen

Daily Devotionals for Difficult Days [37] Blessed Delight

Back to Before?

One of the many unusual features of lockdown is new friendships - at least aquaintances - struck up on the street, in our neighbourhoods, on walks. In one recent conversation I was asked if I thought everything will go back to what it was before, once lockdown is over.

Will all the positive changes that people have made in their lives suddenly come to an end? The slower pace, the increased care for neighbours, the renewed interest in nature, and so on.

(I know that for some folks, lockdown has been enormously difficult, and perhaps they cannot see any good coming out: but through these trials, we must believe that God works for the good of his people.)

My new friend, while wishing that the world wouldn't return to the old treadmill, thought that it probably would!

It begs the question for believers, of how change happens in our lives.

The answer lies in our verse for today, Psalm 1 and verse 2:

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.

Our lives are transformed by regular prayerful meditation on God's Word.

The Blessed Positive

Remember, Psalm One's aim is to show us the path to true blessedness. It began with negatives - blessedness requires a consistent rejection of the world and its counsel.

Today the positive: blessedness relies on a regular soaking in God's Word.

The reason we need God's Word is that the counsel of the world is filled with lies. From the Garden of Eden onwards, Satan has filled the world with lies. He is the "father of lies" and when he entices God's people away from God and to his many idols, he is beguiling them with lies:

"Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak." (Habakkuk 2:18)

There is only place on earth where truth can be found. And that is in God's Word, "Your Word is Truth" (John 17:17) and supremely in God's Son, who is the Truth.

What an amazing privilege to have God's Word in our language and in our own hands! English monarchs of old were presented with a Bible at their coronation with these words:

Here is Wisdom;
This is the royal Law;
These are the lively Oracles of God.

 Let us note two simple truths from our verse:

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.

First, we note that...

Blessedness comes from Delight and Meditation on God's Word

Do we always delight in God's Word? Automatically, I mean? Not always. We have all probably had spiritually dry patches: seasons when God's Word has not been the delight it might have been. 

When a believer hits a dry patch, they should ask diagnostic questions. 

First, is this dryness because of sin in my life? You may have heard the true saying: "This book will keep you from sin, and sin will keep you from this book." If it is sin we should repent. 

If the dryness is not caused by sin we need to ask a second question: is the lack of delight due to irregular reading? Frequent feeding on God's Word develops a dependency of delight. 

If our reading is regular, then question three: Is God withholding his presence temporarily to build our faith? God can do that, he can make "the heavens as brass" to test us, draw us out, increase our faith: Do we trust God only when our faith is all "bells and whistles," or will we trust him in the dark as well? 

Let us remember too, that delight is not always how we feel going into Bible study. Delight can be intentional, "I will delight in God's Word." Delight can be a discipline.

To remain in a state where God's Word is delightful is the desire and aim of the psalmist, and it leads to blessedness.

The "Law of the Lord" originally meant the first five books of the Bible since these five books are all the author probably had when he wrote this psalm, books that contain largely law. We understand "law of the Lord" to encompass the 66 books of the Old and New Testament.

Meditation, the other word the psalmist encouarges upon us, is the slow and deliberate feeding on God's Word, just as we have been doing day by day in these devotionals.  

So the key to a blessed life is feeding on God's Word.

Some Christians read Scripture like this: they read a larger portion of the Bible each day or a few times a week, to get the sweep of the whole Scriptures into their minds (you can download a plan to help you HERE) and then in addition they might read a much smaller portion, a paragraph, a verse even, each day, to meditate on  - in much the same way that we are doing in this daily devotional.

The blessed man, the blessed woman, is Bible-loving and Word-consuming.

He or she rejects the lies of the world, and instead is tranformed by the Word. The Apostle Paul says much the same thing as the psalmist, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Romans 12:2) Don't allow the world to squeeze you into its mold, but allow the Word to transform your mind (and hence life). 

"Day and Night" - Daily Devotions

The other thought that emerges from Psalm 1:2 is regularity:

but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.

The blessed man or woman is often in God's Word. As often as day and night. Why so frequently?

Because the influence of the world is all-pervasive: everywhere we go we hear Satan's lies. And because our hungry souls need feeding. 

So the Christian discipline of "Daily Devotions" or "Quiet Times" is rooted in Scripture, in Psalm 1. Blessedness comes when we meditate on God's Word regularly, "day and night." 

Let's not make Daily Devotions into a law which if we're in hospital for a week and so can't keep, we develop a guilty conscience over; instead let's make Daily Devotions a helpful habit. 

Many Christians carve out a portion of their day - perhaps first thing in the morning or lunchtime or last thing at night - perhaps 15 minutes or so. My dad's QT was at 5:00am in the morning, because it was the only time he could escape the noise of six boisterous kids! My mom's QT was after all the kids had been packed off to school. 

Everyone is different. Some are morning larks, some are evening owls. 

To start this protected QT a believer may first pray something like this: "Open my eyes so that I may see wondrous things in your law." (Psalm 119:18) This supplication sets the tone of utter dependance upon God -the Spirit of the Lord will then help us understand God's Word.

Next they read the Scriptures, feeding upon them, always ending with the prayerful question, "Lord what would you have me take from your Word today?" And then they might end their QT with those more general prayers of worship, penitence, request and intercession.

Prayer for help, then meditation on Scripture, then prayers. It's a sound idea, but it is not a law.

 Summing it all Up

The blessed life can never be discovered through negatives alone. (Some people need to hear that the blessed life cannot be experienced through positives alone!)

Minuses and Plusses are both essential.

This is how all true life-long repentance and faith works.  We turn from, then to. Never just from, never just to. The repentance-faith turn is always from and then to.

We turn from the lies of Satan to the truth of God. 

In the industrialization of our lives, we have tended to latch onto a fixed Quiet Time as the opportunity to study God's Word. But we can feed on God's Word at any time. Since I have been writing these daily devotions I have been trying to develop the habit of going to bed with tomorrow's Scripture in mind and meditating on those words until sleep takes over. 

Do we want a blessed life? The secret lies in delighting and meditating on God's Word. 

A SONG FOR THE DAY

Today a song about God's Word.  

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path

When I feel afraid,
And think I've lost my way
Still, you're there right beside me
Nothing will I fear
As long as you are near
Please be near me to the end

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path

I will not forget
Your love for me and yet
My heart forever is wandering
Jesus by my guide
And hold me to your side
And I will love you to the end

Nothing will I fear
As long as you are near
Please be near me to the end

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path
And a light unto my path
You're the light unto my path 

Amy Grant

You can sing along HERE. 

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Our loving Father in heaven,

We thank you for your great love for us.

We pray today for those who are suffering under the effects of lockdown. We pray for families that are struggling to balance family and work. We pray for people living on their own and who miss human companionship.

We pray that your great purposes will come to pass. We know that you have good plans for your people and for your kingdom through these trying times. May we not miss what you are doing in our own lives and in the wider world.

Help us to delight in your Word and to meditate on it, so that we might be truly blessed. 

We thank you for the Word made Flesh who died for our sins and rose to give us hope.

And it is in His Precious Name we ask these things,

Amen

Daily Devotionals for Difficult Days [36] Some Blessed Negatives!

No Gain without Pain!

We all know that there is "no gain without pain." Whether we are trying to parent a child, lose weight, develop a new skill, put on a new grace, put off an old besetting sin - no advance can be made without both negatives and positives in the mix.

Learning a new language requires hours learning both grammar and vocabulary. A boxer friend of mine once told me that he hated - the very word he used! - the rigour of training: it was pure grind and the mere thought of yet another round of physical training was distasteful to his mind.

Before Nehemiah and his people could rebuild the walls of Jerusalem they first had to clear away the rubble. Negative and postive.

Negative before positive.

There are no gains without pains.

 Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
    or sit in the seat of mockers...

Three Blessed Negatives

If we want to enjoy a blessed life, says the psalmist, it starts with three negatives. All three negatives can be summarised as one: stay away from sinful influences. The Hebrew poet may have simply tripled one thought for emphasis, but I think we can also see a development in holiness over the three words, Walk, Stand and Sit. 

"Walk in the counsel of the wicked." The first blessed negative is to avoid the advice of unbelievers.

"Stand in the way of sinners." The second blessed negative is to avoid hanging out with unbelievers.

"Sit in the seat of mockers." The third blessed negative is to avoid their deep cynical fellowship.

Let's take away two thoughts from these blessed negatives - and let's remember that blessedness is their purpose. 

People Influence Us

People influence us more than anything else. That's a given from Psalm 1. It is also a given in the ministry of Jesus. He influenced the Twelve - how? By spending time with them. (He also protected them from the negative influences of the Pharisees - "beware of the yeast of the Pharisess...") Critics who did not like the profound influence of Jesus on the disciples nevertheless were forced to acknowledge that these men had spent time with Christ.

People may influence us directly  by fellowship with them, or they may influence us indirectly by the things they write or say or produce.

To live a holy life we must avoid being deeply influenced by the unbelieving people of the world. It's old-fashioned holiness.

Our best friends should never be unbelievers. Across every close friendship evil can pass "under the radar." In our desire to please an unbelieving friend we may do things that we would not otherwise dream of doing - because we love them.

That is why the Lord forbad his people to marry outside of Israel. Once in the marriage relationship, the spouse may ask for an idol to be set up in the home, for example, and to avoid conflict or out of love, the ugly lie (another Old Testament word for an idol) would appear.

Paul encourages us not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. A yoke is any strong bond between two people, whether a deep friendship, a business partnership, or a marriage.

Here is his holy reasoning from 2 Corinthians 6

"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?  What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?

In none of the most significant areas of your new life in Christ do you have anything in common with an unbeliever. One loves wickedness, the other righteousness; one is in the dark, the other in the light; one follows Satan, the other follows Christ; one does not believe, the other believes; one worships idols, the other one is a temple of God's Spirit.

There can be no genuine blessedness without a rejection of the influence of unbelievers, whose whole minds, words and lives are sinful.

I have tragically come across parents who have sought to overlook, or worse to justify, the relationship of a believing daughter or son with an unbeliever saying, "But she is such a nice girl / he's such a nice guy." The actual truth of the matter is that nice fiance is in a very different kingdom.

You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
Indeed you're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody

Sin is Progressive

The second thought that emerges from verse one is this: sin is progressive, sin advances, sin is always moving forward (I mean, of course, backwards).

Walk, Stand, Sit. 

Imagine the scene. We start walking along the road with someone, we chat and become friends. Soon we are standing for long hours "chewing the rag", and soon we sit with them over a meal. There is a progression here,

Walk, Stand, Sit.

Sin is like that, whether it is a friendship with an unbeliever, or a sin that has begun to grow unchecked in our hearts. Sin doesn't stand still. Sin advances.

You've heard the Jungle Doctor story for kids? Village boy finds orphaned leopard and brings it home to mother. "Mama I want to keep this cat, it's just so cute."  Wise mom does not allow it, for, she says, "little leopards turn into big leopards and big leopards kill."

Little sins, turn into big sins, and big sins kill.

Summing it All Up

How shall we respond to God's Holy Word today?

First, if we want to be truly blessed, we must watch all our friendships. Who are our best friends? Our best friends should all be followers of Jesus Christ.

Is there a friendship with an unbeliever developing in your life? Do you need to watch it?

Who are your best friends?

When we are seeking a marriage partner, the first consideration must be "Are they followers of Jesus?"

But, you say, what if a believer is married to an unbeliever? In those cases, unless the unbeliever voluntarily leaves, the believer is bound to continue in the marriage - as difficult as that so often is; our enemies, warned Jesus, may be members of our own household. (Matthew 10:36) It can be a difficult cross to bear.

And someone else says, what about our responsibility to win unbelievers to Christ? Don't we have to become like Jesus who was the friend of sinners? We do, but the arrow of influence is purposely and carefully one way. We go into those friendships aware of the potential perils and we develop those relationships to win them.

Jesus never allowed the sinners who loved him to pull him down. He, instead, pulled them up.

Second, we watch all our media intake - by media I mean everything from books to Instagram, from Netflix to YouTube, from Spotify to Facebook.

Although born again by the Holy Spirit, we are aware that we have an old sinful nature that can so easily be awakened. The Puritans, for whom holiness was a big Priority, used to liken that sinful nature to a tinder box. One tiny spark of temptation is enough to explode our hearts into a fireball of sin.

When I was a teenager, my father constantly bemoaned the way his six children listened so much to worldly music (Harry Chapin, Pink Floyd, et al). By contrast to today's 24/7 Spotify consumption, the influence on us back then was pretty minimal. But dad was concerned that ungodly words would sink deep into our souls and drive us from God's Word and ultimately drive us from God Himself.

That old-fashioned avoidance of worldliness has sadly disappeared from among us. 

Tomorrow, God-willing, we go positive and learn the spring of all true blessedness - to be soaked in God's Word.

But let us all allow God's blessed negatives to sink deep into out souls.

A SONG FOR THE DAY

We remind ourselves today that becoming holy is to become like God, "be holy for I am holy." (1 Peter 1:16) A well-loved hymn with a modern twist.

Holy holy holy Lord God almighty
Early in the morning
Our song shall rise to Thee
Holy holy holy merciful and mighty
God in three persons
Blessed Trinity

Holy holy holy
All the saints adore Thee
Casting down their golden crowns
Around the glassy sea
Cherubim and Seraphim
Falling down before Thee
Who was and is
And evermore shall be

Holy holy holy
Though the darkness hide Thee
Though the eyes of sinful men
Thy glory may not see
Only Thou art holy
There is none beside Thee
Perfect in power love and purity

I bow before Thee King of glory
Holy are You Lord none beside Thee
Perfect in power my God forever
You were and are and You will be

Holy holy holy
Lord God Almighty
All Thy Works shall praise Thy
Name in earth and sky and sea
Holy holy holy
Merciful and mighty
God in three persons
Blessed Trinity

I bow before Thee King of glory
Holy are You Lord none beside Thee
Perfect in power my God forever
You were and are and You will be

You were and are and You will be

Sing it slong with Shane and Shane HERE.

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Dear Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

We thank you for the beauty of your world and we thank you for this unusual season of life - may we not waste it, but use it for your glory.

We thank you for the reminder from your word of the power of relationhips - for good or for evil.

Help us not to  walk in the counsel of the wicked, help us not to stand in the way of sinners, and help us never to sit in the seat of mockers.

May our lives be holy as you are holy,

We ask these things for our blessedness and for your glory,

In the Worthy Name of Jesus

Amen. 

Daily Devotionals for Difficult Days [35] Blessed?

A  selection of the trees that surround a field behind my home

More Time to Look

One good side effect of lockdown is the opportunity many folks have to take a more considered look, or, as an old saying has it "to smell the roses." Read more widely, amble around, look about.

And hopefully for we who love the Lord, to spend more time praying and reading the Scriptures.

I noticed for the very first time, the great variety of trees which surround a field behind my home. I have never really noticed the mixture of trees before, so  I have set myself the simple challenge to know what each one is by name (I plan to use Google Lens, which I know is cheating, but it's a convenient way of identifying - well anything). So far I know one of them is a Maple and another a Horse Chestnut.

Mention of Trees brings me to the next psalm we plan to meditate on in these blogs. The blessed man or woman is "...like a tree planted by streams of water..." (Psalm 1:3)

Psalm One Introduces the Book of Psalms

In many ways, Psalm 1 introduces the whole book of Psalms, we shall see.

The book of Psalms itself is the believer's prayer book, hymn book and experience book, all rolled into one. Let me explain.

If we want to know how to pray, this book will guide us (along with The Lord's Prayer and the prayers of the Apostle Paul). If we want to know if our prayers are "in line", "correct", "proper", "godly," we may turn here.

If we want to know how to praise God, again, Psalms is the place to go. We are at liberty to take these beautiful words "off the shelf", and make them our own, since we often can't find words of our own.

If we want to know if our present experience matches up to godly experience or if it is out of kilter, well then, the book of Psalms will serve as measuring guide.

This latter point is important. We may want to know if our present feelings of disappointment with God's ways, or personal frustration, or emptiness is "OK" for a believer.

For example, Psalm 88 retells the prayer of a true believer who is passing through a dark night, and who has dark thoughts like this: "darkness is my closest friend."  How many times has that psalm, I wonder, brought healing to someone who also felt that darkness was their closest friend.

Pslam 88 tells us, "It's OK for a TRUE believer to feel this way from time to time."

But there is one danger with the Psalms, highlighted in my last paragraph. The Psalms must be read in the light of the New Testament, in the light of Jesus Christ.

When we are in the pits, feeling like no-one else has ever experienced what we are passing through, we can never say - or should never say - "darkness is my closest friend." Those words were written BC, Before Christ. Jesus, the light of the world, has promised that if we follow him we will NEVER walk in darkness (John 8:12). So "darkness is my closest friend" might be a fleeting emotion we pass through but it is never actually true for a New Testament believer.  Such a feeling comes from our frail hearts overclocking or our feeble minds overheating.

There is only One who could say - for real, for a brief but real moment - "darkness is my closest friend" and that was Jesus Christ. When he was on the cross he cried, "My God, My God why have you forsaken me?" (It seems as though he could not even bring himself to say "My Father, my Father...", just "My God, my God...")  In the moments he was made sin for us, the Father turned his face away from the Son. Jesus experienced darkness - so that we would not have to.

So the wonderful Psalms of the Old Testament must always be read in the light of the New Testament.

What does it mean to be Blessed?

"Blessed is the man (or woman).....", starts our new Psalm.

What does that word "blessed" mean? Psalm 1 teaches that there are two spiritual conditions or states, "blessedness" and "wickedness" (verse 1b, verse 4).

Blessedness in Scripture is the state in which we are right in God's eyes and walking with him. The word happiness can sometimes be used to describe blessedness, for we can only truly be happy when we are blessed.

But there are times when the word happy is not an appropriate translation of blessed. We may be blessed in heaven but actually not feel happy on earth! Blessed is the man, for example, whom the Lord corrects (Job 5:17). A little child being corrected may not "feel" particularly happy at that moment, but they are indeed blessed, they really are!

The word blessed is more about our true spiritual state, when viewed from God's angle, than how we may feel about ourselves. Our feelings are not always a reliable guide. I have come across believers living in unrepentant sin who say they are most happy! And conversely, I have met true believers who are not "happy" but for sure are blessed! On both accounts, there is a discrepancy between fact and feeling.

Blessedness is the state in which we are walking right with God. And more often than not, thankfully, it brings with it feelings of joy and happiness.

Psalm 1, we shall learn, teaches us the way of true blessedness.  

The Spiritual World is Binary

But before we leave our psalm for today, let's note that the spiritual world is binary: either we are among the blessed or else we are among the wicked; in the darkness or in the light. There is no middle path, no sitting on the fence.

We live in an age that is desperately trying to break down the binary differences God has built into the created, moral and spiritual world, "let us break their chains", they say: chains is how they describe God's gracious orders which are designed to bring us freedom!

There are not two binary sexes, they say, but a spectrum of genders. There are not binary rights and wrongs when it comes to sexual ethics; anything goes. There are no binary differences in role between a man and a woman, they say. The spirit of our age is against distinctions (even when those distinctions are grounded in fact and biology!)

Much the same is going on in the world of "religion," and it has crept into mainline churches. I once heard a church minister say  "denominationalism is dead." He meant that there are no longer any differences between Catholics and Protestants. Some go futher and say that there is no difference between the different religions. We shan't go into that viewpoint now, but it reflects the present spirit of the age.

However, according to Scripture, our spiritual state in God's eyes is digital, either the one or the other. No-one preached that fact more persistently than Jesus Christ. Light and dark, sheep and goats, the wide road and the narrow road, the wide gate and the narrow gate, children of the devil and children of God, and so on.

So, as we close this blog, may I ask the reader "What state are you in?"

Most of our readers will be true believers, but perhaps not all. How do we come into Christ's kingdom of light? How do we find oursleves among the "blessed" pilgrims of Psalm 1?

We acknowledge that we are sinners, we turn to God, we repent of our wrongdoing, and we believe in Jesus Christ.

We obey the command of God:

"Seek the LORD while He may be found;

call on Him while He is near.

Let the wicked man forsake his own way

and the unrighteous man his own thoughts;

let him return to the LORD,

that He may have compassion,

and to our God,

for He will freely pardon." 
(Isaiah 55:6-7)

And hear the precious promise of Jesus Christ:

"All those the Father gives me will come to me, 
and whoever comes to me I will never drive away." (John 6:37)


A SONG FOR THE DAY

Our song for the day is a beautiful old hymn, written by Horatius Bonar. It's the testimony of every believer whom God has moved from darkness into light, from death to life.

You can sing along HERE.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me, and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down
Thy head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary, and worn, and sad;
I found in Him a resting-place,
And He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
The living water: thirsty one,
Stoop down, and drink, and live.”
I came to Jesus, and I drank
Of that life-giving stream;
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s Light;
Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise,
And all thy day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
In Him my Star, my Sun;
And in that Light of life I’ll walk
Till trav’lling days are done.

Horatius Bonar

A PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Dear loving Father in heaven,

We thank you for this day.

We acknowledge you as the author of each season of nature, and each season of our own lives too; you are the giver of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

We thank you for the present joys of Spring. 

We thank you for the blessedness of being right with you by faith in your Son, and the blessedness of walking day by day with you, knowing your presence and rejoicing in your grace.

Today we bring before you all those we know and love who may be happy but are not yet blessed.

May you reveal to them through the power of the Gospel and by the power of your Spirit, the blessing of salvation before it is too late.

We earnestly pray for them.

In Jesus' Name,

Amen.