Wednesday, June 03, 2015

In recent visits we expanded our study of Psalm 1 by reflecting on a cross reference in Joshua 1:8. The focus in this cross reference was on meditating on God’s word day and night. Now let’s look at another cross reference. Jeremiah 17:7-8 focuses on being like a tree planted by the water. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” In Psalm 1 this kind of tree is like a person who meditates on God’s word day and night. Here in Jeremiah the tree represents someone who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. It is difficult to trust in someone you don’t know, someone who has not shared with you his life. The same would be true regarding having confidence in that one. That’s where the connection is found. The Bible is God’s self-disclosing love letter to us. If we read and meditate on it day and night we will get to know him better and more intimately. The better we know him the more readily we will trust him and have confidence in him. This is the essence of a God blessed relationship. When this develops in our relationship with God we’ll become more and more like the tree described in verse 8. We’ll be planted in the right place. We’ll be nourished in a healthy way. We’ll experience refreshing vitality and fruitfulness no matter how destitute and dire the conditions around us might be.