Erin Pacheco 0:08
Welcome to Elmhurst CRC’s Daily Dose of the Word of God. It’s Friday, July 12, and Sunday is coming! I’m Erin Pacheco. It’s the season of green and growing things, our spiritual lives included! If you’re listening to this outdoors, or maybe by a window, I invite you to look at a tree while you listen. Right now, I’m looking at a tall, young tree with full, green leaves, and I just saw a pair of blue jays fly into its branches. Our psalm today reminds us that one of the things that leads to flourishing – like a healthy, summer tree – is filling our hearts and minds with God’s word and God’s truth.
Erin Pacheco 0:52
Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path that sinners tread or sit in the seat of scoffers, but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. The wicked are not so but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Erin Pacheco 1:44
These are sobering words. This psalm – the first one in the whole book of Psalms – lays out two paths. On the one hand, there are those who delight in God’s word. They are compared to trees by streams of water. They have all they need to thrive and bear fruit. On the other hand, there are those who choose to follow the ways of the world and mock the wisdom of God. Instead of sturdy trees, they’re like chaff from the threshing floor – not the valuable kernels of wheat, just the dust in the wind that blows away and is forgotten. Yikes.
Erin Pacheco 2:26
The psalm calls these two paths the path of the righteous and the path of the wicked. It’s all designed to make you think: Which path am I on? Which one do I want to be on? Psalm 1 says the way to happiness and flourishing is by delighting in God’s word, letting it sink deep into your soul, so that the wisdom of God and the ways of God just come out of you naturally. Like leaves and fruit on a tree. Which is why at ECRC we have this Daily Dose of the Word of God. And why we spend so much time in worship reflecting on how we can apply God’s word to our lives. I wonder how you can you be meditating on God’s word today? Maybe there’s a word that God has already given you that is a delight to you. How can “chewing on” that word, and sitting with it today, might bear fruit in your life?
Erin Pacheco 3:39
Let’s pray. Creator God, thank you for the simple witness of trees – the shade they give us in summer, the home they provide for your creatures, the way they weather the wind and the storms and stay steadfast through the seasons. Help me to stay anchored in your word like that, so that my life can be a blessing to others. Amen.
