Living Water (Spring and Summer)

One of my favorite Psalms, is Psalm 1... ¹Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ²but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

³He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. ⁴The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

⁵Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; ⁶for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish This past month my wife and I (as we do every spring) have been talking about how much we both love to see everything becoming so green. No doubt there's beauty in the fall and winter...but it's the spring and summer that really cheer us up. I think all of us just love anything that displays 'living'. It's the same feeling we get when we stand next to a creek or river that's powerfully flowing with water. I think that picture is seen within this Psalm as well. Throughout the bible, there seems to be running theme of water and life. I just especially like the imagery of how it's used here to describe the righteous. He is like a 'tree planted by streams of water"..."it's leaf does not wither." After reading this the other day I happened to also go to the end of Revelation and found what, to me, seems to be a connection. The last 2 chapters of the bible (Revelation 21 and 22) have to be for me some of, if not THE most wonderful words ever written. The picture of the 'new heavens and new earth' are simply breathtaking; and my favorite moment in it lies in chapter 22 verse 1-3, where John talks about being shown the 'Tree of Life' (which Man rejected in the garden) standing besides a river "as bright as crystal" (called the water of life). And the most comforting line here is in verse 2 and 3 that says "...The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed.." I mean....WHAT a beautiful image! Think of the concentration camps....think of those two towers falling in new york.....think of earthquakes in haiti....wives loosing their husbands in mine disasters, Mississippi children being killed by a tornado, every single little baby born, only to die within the first hour of their life; all due to the curse on creation. Now...within that context...meditate on that image; '..the leaves are for the healing of the nations...the 'curse' will be no more. There is nothing that could sound more comforting. So we have in Psalm 1 the image of a tree by water....and in Revelation we seem to have the same image. But the question of course is, how do we get this living water? Are we in ourselves righteous enough to where this Psalm can apply to us? I don't believe so. Remember, God said in Psalm 14 and 51 (which Paul quotes in Romans 3) that 'NO one is righteous'. Jesus though claims that 'all the law and the prophets' were ultimately writing about Him. He is the righteous. It is He who yields fruit....It's him who gives the water as bright as crystal. Remember his discussion with the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus talks about it is Him who will 'give us' living water so that we never would be thirsty again. So we have Christ, who comes in perfection, lives righteously...and therefore, 'becomes like a tree planted by streams of water'....then...GIVES us that water...that life. By us laying down our failed attempts at 'being good' and clinging to Him, his leaves heal us....his water fills us eternally. I think there's a hint of all that in seeing the green of spring and summer. -michael (The picture above was taken at the lake that's in my parents subdivision where i grew up)