Ben Fourie

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.” Psalm 1:3 (please read the entire psalm) (NIV)

I like to sit in a window seat whenever I have to fly somewhere. Although you are nearly 10 000 meters above the ground, it is very interesting to look at the world passing beneath. Miniature towns come and go and the play of light on the ground, especially when there are some clouds about, is fascinating. From afar you can see the green belt of trees that marks a river. It looks like a green snake slithering over the brown and ochre of the land. Green indeed, for where there is water you will find lots of trees.

If you look at trees that grow along a riverbank you will find them growing strong. Just drive through the drier parts of our country in a time of drought. Even the hardy blackthorn looks old and dead, but as you reach a river, the trees are green and lovely.

The person. who finds his or her delight in the law of the Lord is blessed indeed. To the poet those who live near God is blessed like trees growing on a riverbank. They are never thirsty, they bear fruit on time and they are always covered in leaves. The law in this sense is not only the Mosaic laws. Rather to be busy with the law of God and to think about it day and night means to be busy with everything that we know about God, it means to be busy with God himself on a daily basis.

To illustrate the necessity of literally living on the banks of God himself we can think of a transplanted tree. Take it away from the riverbank and plant it far away from the river. If it rains enough it will still grow, but the first time of water scarcity it will wither and die just like all the trees around it. To have once stood on the riverbank counts for nothing. To be living near God means to be busy with Him every day and every night.

Prayer: Thank you Lord that you are a stream of living water that will never dry up and that Jesus’ invitation is for everyone who is thirsty and wants to drink from the deep river of living water. Amen