Have you ever thought about how God desires for His creation to be alive and flourishing? When God created the heaven and earth, and all living creatures, and man and woman, He saw everything that He had made, and it was very good. It was a beautiful picture. And even though man sinned, but God reached out each time, again and again, so that man could be made alive again. Not just alive, but with life!

And this is the picture that the psalmist painted for us in Psalm 1. There are two paths for us to choose. One path does not offer life, those who walk on this path are like chaff that the wind drives away. On this path, man walks in the counsel of the wicked, then start to stand together, and finally being so settled to sit in the seat of the scoffers. From moving alongside, to being stationary with, to settling with, it shows a growing comfort with things that do not bring life. The psalmist tells us that those who choose this way will perish.

The other path is one that offers life, a tree that will never run dry, that bears fruit, that does not wither. In other words, a tree that is alive and flourishing. On this path, man delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night. It is a life that studies the bible, that does not depart from the Word, that takes great joy in knowing the Word. And the psalmist tells us the Lord knows those who take this path, and His watchful eye and loving care is over them.

God sees you, and desires for you to know Him personally and to be alive and flourishing. Would you draw near to Him through the reading of His Word, through thinking about the Word, and through applying it in your life? Recently, my niece sent me a video of her reciting Psalm 1, and she told me that she decided to use the act of memorising Scripture to help her meditate on God’s word, and to be that person who delights in God’s law.

Would you, too, cultivate a delight in the World of God, and engage with God personally? May God help us to be that blessed man, alive and flourishing!

Prayer:

Dear God, thank you for showing me how I can be alive and flourishing as You desire me to. Help me to draw near to You each day as I read Your Word. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.