People who Flourish (Psalm 92:12-15)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
5/28/2012 9:46:25 AM
My Worship Time     Focus: A Flourishing people
Bible Reading & Meditation     Reference:   Psalm 92:12-15
 Message of the verses:  In Today’s SD we will be looking at the last main point from the 92nd Psalm.  Dr. Wiersbe writes at the end of his introductory commentary these words:  “The psalm describes the characteristics of believers who trust a sovereign God.”
 A Flourishing People (vv. 12-15):  “12  The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13  Planted in the house of the LORD, They will flourish in the courts of our God. 14  They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green, 15  To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
 “12  But the godly will flourish like palm trees  and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon. 13  For they are transplanted to the LORD’s own house.  They flourish in the courts of our God. 14  Even in old age they will still produce fruit;  they will remain vital and green. 15  They will declare, “The LORD is just!  He is my rock!  There is no evil in him!’’”
 I think that these verse describe a person who has come to know the Lord, realizing that they were born into sin as all people are, and realizing that they sin as all people do, and realizing that they can do nothing on their own to take care of the sin problem and so they fall on their face before God and confess their sinfulness to Him asking for His great mercy.  People in the OT times who were believers looked forward to the Messiah coming to take away their sins, while people in the NT era look back to what Jesus Christ has done for them on the cross to take care of their sin problem.  In both eras the sinner had to confess his sin before the Lord asking Him to save them and then just as a person is saved, by grace through faith, they are to  walk.  “6  Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7  having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.”  (Col. 2:6-7)  These two verses go along with the verse in Psalm 92, for they are both speaking about spiritual growth in the believer as they picture trees with the right food and sunshine to make them grow, which is what we need as believers to grow up in the Lord.  We need the right food which is the Lord of God, and we need the sunshine which is the Son of God.  At times the “sap” mentioned here can represent the Holy Spirit which will produce fruit in the life of the believer (see John 15).  It is so important for the believer to grow once they have been born again into the kingdom of God and that is one of the purposes for my Spiritual Diaries that I may grow in the Lord as I study His Word each day.
 Dr. Wiersbe compares the people from verse seven with the people from verses 12-13 when he writes:  “The word ‘flourish’ in verse 7 means ‘to be conspicuous, to shine,’ while the word in verses 12-113 means ‘to be vigorous, to flourish richly.’  The stately date palm and cedar were highly valued by people in the Near East, the psalm for its fruit and the cedar for its wood.  Both were appreciated for their beauty, and both trees can survive for many years.  Not all godly people live long; some, like Robert Murray M’Cheyne and David Brainerd, die very young.  But generally speaking, those who obey God avoid a great deal of danger and disease that can cause an early death.”
 One of the things that I often think about is to finish strong in my walk with the Lord, not to ever be satisfied with not continuing to grow in the Lord, but to continue to study the Word of God as long as I am able to.
 Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have to remember that the spiritual walk with the Lord is a marathon and not a short 100 meter race, and I also need to remember what an old Scottish preacher said many years who Dr. Wiersbe quotes many times in the different books that he has written, and that is “The secret to the Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:  To abide (remain) in the Vine.
5/28/2012 10:26:05 AM