Psalm 1:3 “They are like a tree replanted by streams of water,
which bears fruit at just the right time
and whose leaves don’t fade.
Whatever they do succeeds.”
The first Psalm (which is assigned for this week) seems overly simple to me. On the one hand you have the righteous who are constantly “meditating on” or “reciting” the teachings of the lord, and on the other you have the wicked. Who presumably do any and everything else, I guess. I say it’s simple because so often it feels like the wicked also know the teachings of the lord and can bend and twist them in ways the lead to the path of sin. Sometimes the teachings of the lord are a confusing wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey…mess. Even the metaphor the psalmist uses is simple. Now I don’t keep plants (mostly because I kill them) but my spouse does, and I know that just having “streams of water” is not enough to keep a plant or tree happy and bearing fruit. It needs to have the correct sunlight, enough-but-not-too-much water, proper minerals in the soil and the proper amount of space in that soil in order to grow well. At the house one of our plants is a Oxalis Triangularis or “Purple Shamrock”. I affectionately call it “Moody Plant” because at the first sign of anything being off its beautiful bright purple leaves and thin winding stems immediately fall lifeless and darken in color. Usually it just needs water but I think my point still stands, for something to flourish it needs a little more than just flowing streams.
It’s probably important to point out that this is just Psalm 1. The Psalter is just getting started and maybe simplicity is a good place to start before diving into the more complex actions of the wicked and righteous we will find in the rest of the Psalms and throughout the teachings of God. As we continue to recite teachings and grow in our faith the complexity will start to feel more like the simple as well. We will out grow our small started pots and be replanted in bigger ones with more space for growth. As we continue to grow and change the passages we find ourselves reciting again and again can change as well. Luther called this the “canon within the canon” teaching that due to changing events and life circumstances the Gospel might be more easily found in some verses instead of others. A passage about lament might not speak to us as much when we are happy, one about justice might not ring as true when we are at peace. As you spend time reciting on the teaching of God I invite you to find the texts the speak to where you are in life and spend a little extra time with them so that you might find new simplicities and complexities in following the path of the righteous.
Peace
Pastor Corey
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