Delight

2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He 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. Psalm 1:2-3

The Psalmist follows here in verses 2-3 that the delight of the blessed man is found in God’s Law.  I think we can admit that at first glance this seems odd at best and maybe condemning at worst.  Do I delight in God’s Law?  Does it bring me joy?  Do I find myself meditating on it continuously as the Psalmist does?  Wherever our answers may fall, which may be in different places depending on the day, the call here is that this is where our delight should be found.  God’s Law in His Word, His living and active Scripture that He has graciously given to us.  We are called to be a people who take great delight in the very Word of God, faithfully believing in its truth and joyfully submitting ourselves to its authority.  To follow the Psalmist in these first few verse is to understand that we have been blessed by God because He is our God.  Our blessing is God himself, and the one who understands this blessing is now one who takes great delight and joy in what God says.  We are to take such delight in what God says that we think on, run to, and sit in His words continually (day and night).  If we long to be a people who love God then it simply follows that we will be a people who love what God says.  

The Psalmist, though, doesn’t stop at what his posture is to the Word of God, but he follows by writing that the one who delights in God’s Word is like a tree planted by the water, whose leaf does not wither.  The promise here is that those who delight in God’s Word are those who have life, true life.  God’s Word is where true life is found, where true fruit springs forth.  It is in God’s Word that we find God, His beautiful story of redemption and grace, His call to follow and obey and His purposed sending out for mission.  We learn of who God is, how He has worked throughout His redemptive history.  We learn of the power of the cross and the call to take up our own cross and follow Jesus.  We learn of what it looks like to faithfully follow and pursue a life of sacrificial mission for God.  Life can be found nowhere else than in the very Word of God.  This is why we run joyfully to the Bible, for it is here that we know we find life in its truest form.  It is here that we find the only One worth finding and by doing so find ourselves and our purpose.  

Church, may we long to be a people who delight in God’s Word, faithfully coming back day after day to the well that never runs dry in order to see, know and love our God more and more.  As we do this may we be like that strong tree, with deep roots, who knows the health and life that can be found as we soak in the stream of God’s Word.  

PRAYER FOR THE DAY: God, thank you for Your Word.  Help me to delight in Your Word, running to it constantly, that I may know more of the life that is to be found in You.