It’s not all that complicated. Take some soil, add some fertilizer, throw in some seed, provide a little sunlight, and before you know it little green buds begin to show. Now of course, that may be a little insulting to farmers and gardeners. “There is so much more to it!” we can hear them exclaim . . . and they are right. There is far more to it. I’m not a farmer, but I do know that in order to have a good crop, a person must be aware of soil and seed quality, insects, weeds, diseases, and many, many other things. Nevertheless, in principle, without the countless potential obstacles, growing a garden or farming a crop is about cause and effect: place the seeds in the ground, water them, and God gives the growth.
The Basics
Psalm 1 is not interested in the endless number of challenges to growth. Psalm 1 is about the basics.Take a tree, plant it by an ever-flowing stream, even a river of life, and growth happens naturally. We know about the things that keep us from that stream: wickedness, sin, and scoffing (see verse 1). These are things that keep us in the desert. These are the things that bring death, and they are certainly listed in verse 1. Nevertheless, the heart of Psalm 1 centers on the basics. Life comes by means of Torah – the instructions for living, and keeping our minds in Torah is like setting ourselves beside a slow, steady stream.
We made comments regarding Torah in the previous post. Now in verse 3 we see the Torah’s effect. More than that, as Christians we begin to understand that something more is going on than the law of Moses or even a list of books (39 in the Old Testament and 26 in the New Testament). We see that True Torah finds itself in a Person . . . a Living Person. After all, pen and ink could never give life, but the steady flow of JesusChrist brings life to all who drink. It is no accident that Jesus uses a similar image when He says,
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
Planted beside the Streams of water
So it’s not that complicated. Jesus is the vine in John 15, but He is also the streams of water in Psalm 1:3. Plant yourself beside Him. Even better, plant yourself in Him. Drink from Him. He promises life and He offers it in abundance.
So now the question becomes, where do you want to be planted? We’ll talk about that issue in our next post.
“Hey Wade, am I hearing something? Perhaps a gurgle in my belly?” Wade looked at me with a small curved smile. “Am I hearing that midday call for a glazed donut?” Wade looked again. “I don’t know,” Wade responded. “It’s more likely a midday call for a jelly-filled.” In the 1970’s when I was growing up, one of the unwise things my friend Wade and I liked to do was make a run to our local donut shop. We had plenty of those runs, for once we had our driver’s licenses, it wasn’t uncommon to find ourselves every week at a place called Winchell’s. What’s more, why stop at one donut? “Let’s have a second!” I would share with my friend. Now of course eating multiple donuts was not the best practice for our health, but we decided that while we were young, we could get away with all kinds of things. Many years later, I have discovered intermittent fasting, but that’s another story.
Middle of our day . . .
What do we do with middles? I’m not talking about those infamous donut holes. Rather, I’m asking, what do we do with the middle of our day? Yes, many of us work a predefined schedule that doesn’t give us a choice, but others of us have at least a measure of freedom to carve out some meaningful time – time to be used in a better way than eating donuts. Not to the reader’s surprise, I’m talking about taking, if possible, a measure of midday time with our Lord Jesus Christ.
Near the end of my Introduction in The Search for Home I write the following:
The number 100 is no accident. The Lord led me in my writing to precisely that number (yes, it’s true) as I came to the end of John 4. Furthermore, the reading of 100 devotional/commentaries gives the reader a nice sense of progress as he or she learns to take steps in the life of Jesus. As I have already said, I want to encourage the reading of the Psalms. Reading the first 50 Psalms, in the course of reading the hundred devotional/commentaries, is meant to provide for a very rich opportunity of growth. Simply take a Psalm and repeat the reading the next day. You cannot read the Psalms too many times. Pray through them and enjoy your time with Jesus.
Then in that Introduction I divide up the day:
Early morning – read the devotional/commentary. Consider the questions at the end of each reading, and enter into prayer.
Midday – read the Psalm as listed in the Suggested Reading. Enter into prayer.
Evening – read the scripture as listed with the Psalm, and if you sense you’re supposed to go further, then read sequentially and consistently from the Old Testament or New Testament. If time allows, read from one of the Classics in the genre of Spiritual Formation. End your day in prayer.
Middle of the Day is most neglected . . .
Early morning and Evening times we might be successful with, but it’s this Midday time I’m focusing on here. If we can identify the time most neglected in our Christian lives, I suspect it would be the middle of the day. We are under incredible pressures. Our phone notifications are left on. Text messages have backed up. Phone calls need to be made. Perhaps we get some time (even a little) for lunch, so we eat, and we’re back to our jobs. The list is endless of possible things that keep us from a personal time with Jesus in the middle of the day, and this is part of the reason we neglect our Lord. “Jesus?” we say, “I’ll get to Him tonight to tomorrow,” etc. Now don’t misunderstand me. I know that due to our jobs and obligations many of us cannot get what I call “a reasonable time of devotion” in the middle of the day. That’s fine. Jesus gives grace. However, if we cannot get the time, then it is even more necessary to memorize scripture so that we can pray through and in the Word at various moments. (In the next blog post I will write about scripture memorization, meditation and prayer.)
Knowing the Psalms
What if we do have time in the middle of the day? Once again, I advise the reader to know the Psalms, for the Psalms are every Christian’s prayer book. The Search for Home suggests a new reading of the Psalms every other day. So Psalm 1 is to be examined the first and the second day of reading the The Search for Home. Psalm 2 is to be read on the third and fourth day, etc. This means that by the time the reader is on Step 99 and 100, he or she will be on Psalm 50.
Slowing Down
The above being said, another principle that I suggest in The Search for Home is to slow down. So it may be, considering God engages all of us differently, that taking one Psalm every two days is too fast. Rather, it may be that one Psalm a week is more appropriate. For example, the reader may want to memorize Psalm 1, meditate on the Psalm, and observe it’s parts. This method will lead to daily prayer . . . even in the middle of the day! The bottom line is that I suggest we make the Psalms our midday prayer manual. That way we will have fewer midday donut runs, and more midday Jesus runs.
