There is nothing finer than trees growing by a river. With constant nourishment for their roots, they flourish and grow magnificently.
Psalm 1 (CEV)
The Way to Happiness
1 God blesses those people
who refuse evil advice
and won’t follow sinners
or join in sneering at God.
2 Instead, the Law of the Lord
makes them happy,
and they think about it
day and night.
3 They are like trees
growing beside a stream,
trees that produce
fruit in season
and always have leaves.
Those people succeed
in everything they do.
4 That isn’t true of those
who are evil,
because they are like straw
blown by the wind.
5 Sinners won’t have an excuse
on the day of judgment,
and they won’t have a place
with the people of God.
6 The Lord protects everyone
who follows him,
but the wicked follow a road
that leads to ruin.
Sometimes it seems as though the opposite of what this Psalm says is true – that those who do the wrong things get on in life, whilst those who try to do the right thing can seem to struggle.
But ‘Doing the Right Thing‘, following God’s ways is about more than instant gratification and apparent wordly success. It’s about being grounded in God, following his way, and looking to those things of ultimate worth with him; allowing him to feed us and nourish us and following his ways. God’s ways may not always look “successful”, but that depends on where you look for your success, and who’s judging it.
