February 23 | Bible in a Year: Numbers 7-8; Mark 4:21-41

Planted by the Stream

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water. Psalm 1:3

Bill is an older retired gentleman who lives alone and recently had to give up driving. He needs help to pick up his shopping, prescriptions and get to church on Sundays. “But you know what,” says Bill, “I love my days at home. I enjoy free worship music online and Bible teaching on the TV all day long.” Bill spends his days surrounded by Scripture, prayer and praise.

The habits we keep influence where our hearts are planted. Psalm 1 describes the habits of someone who has found favour in God: they delight in His truth, meditate on it often and therefore do not follow the rebellious pattern of the world (vv. 1-2). Hardship will come to everyone, but a life established in the ways of God “is like a tree planted by streams of water . . . whose leaf does not wither” (v. 3 ). Depending on our season of life, we might not be able to spend hours a day in Bible study. However, Jesus said He satisfies anyone who is thirsty that comes to Him, and the Holy Spirit fills His followers like a river (John 7:37-39). We can soak our hearts in living water through praise and Scripture, and also through caring for others, talking to God while we work, and asking for forgiveness when we mess up.

Following the wisdom of God plants our hearts in fertile soil. That life gets called righteous, and God watches over it (Psalm 1:6).

By Karen Pimpo

REFLECT & PRAY

What habits keep you planted by the life-giving water of Jesus? How does that change depending on what season of life you’re in?

Dear Jesus, may I come to You when I feel thirsty and dry.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

Psalm 1, which introduces the book of Psalms, contrasts the way of the “blessed” with the self-destructive path of “the wicked” (v. 1). The psalm depicts a primary way of seeking God’s path: through continual meditation on God’s revelation in “the law” (v. 2). In this way, someone can experience being rooted in and sustained by God’s wisdom “like a tree planted by streams of water” (v. 3).

God’s ultimate revelation of Himself is Christ, God’s Word (John 1:1). In Ephesians 3, Paul uses similar imagery of being “rooted” (v. 17) to describe the believer’s bond with Christ, praying that God would “strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (v. 16). Through being “rooted and established” in Christ’s love ( v. 17)—“that surpasses knowledge”—we can be “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (v. 19).

Monica La Rose

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