‘Songs for the Summer: The Path to Life’

Have you ever been resentful of people whose lives seem successful? They’ve achieved recognition, they have beautiful children, and take exotic vacations. The very thought of them strips any sense of happiness from you.

Now there’s nothing wrong with being successful, having a great family or taking vacations. The question is how do we value them? Do they represent what life is all about for us or is there more to life?

Today we come to a second Reflection on Psalm 1. The Psalm is important for it lays the foundation for the whole Book of Psalms. As it progresses it identifies our two life-choices – the road to nowhere or the path to life.

Consider verse 3. The imagery is vivid as it speaks of the truly blessed or happy people. They are like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all it does it prospers.

Like a tree, truly happy people draw upon life-giving water, growing slowly, steadily, surely, putting roots deeper and deeper into the source of life. Their source of water is God’s word. And just as a well-rooted tree develops its own particular fruit in the appropriate season, so they develop their own distinctive personality and quality of life.

And significantly, because this tree is well-rooted, its leaf doesn’t wither in the crippling conditions of drought. Unlike reeds in dried-up river beds or grass in parched earth, trees because of their deep-rooting system are more able to reach what little moisture there is. Similarly in the tough times of life, the faith of God’s people is not likely to shrivel up.

Yes, our faith will be tested, but in the same way a deeply rooted tree in drought conditions is stimulated to push down even deeper in search of moisture, so too are we are stirred to dig deeper into God’s word; to rely more and more upon him; to be more focussed on putting our life in his hands. This results in bearing the fruit of love – love for God and love for others. We yearn for this. We long for the water of life, but in our natural state we look in the wrong places.

Two thousand years ago a woman at a well in Samaria longed for happiness but it had eluded her. Thinking that love and marriage was the answer, she had been married five times. And as Jesus observed in his conversation with her in John chapter 4, she was now living with a sixth man. But each time she made the same mistake. Her life was a mess. She felt insecure, lonely, and dissatisfied.

Unexpectedly and yet significantly, Jesus offered her living waters that spring into eternal life. He further pointed out that “…the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him (John 4:23f). In John, chapter 14, verse 6, we read Jesus’ further words: “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me”.

Through the lens of the New Testament we see that it is through Christ Jesus we can become beneficiaries of God’s living water and so enjoy the true spiritual life God offers us. It involves a heart response to Jesus.

Consider what Psalm 1 tells us happens to a world that fails to turn to God and put its trust in him. In verse 4 we read: The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Chaff is the epitome of what is rootless and weightless. It has no substance: it’s useless. We can feel the force of the imagery – the action of winnowing, tossing the harvested grain into the air so that the light, useless chaff will be carried off by the wind, while the heavy grain falls to the ground.

Other psalms, such as Psalm 73, point out that all too often it is the godless rather than the godly who seem to succeed in life. But such psalms come to the same conclusion as this psalm, Psalm 1. There will come a Day when men and women of straw together with their works of straw will be shown up.

Verse 6 looks ahead to this: Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

If this world is to make any sense at all, there must be a final judgement. If there is any morality, there must come a time when everyone is called to account. The day of final accounting for us all is a consistent theme throughout the Bible – as we read in Paul’s address to the intelligentsia in Athens (Acts 17:30f). Psalm 1 wants us to know that on that day, those who have ignored God, who turned their backs on the perfect pattern of life he has shown us, or who have simply rejected him, will not have a leg to stand on.

Are you looking for meaning and lasting joy in life? Psalm 1 tells us how we can find it. We won’t find it by following our own inclinations nor by following our passions. And, with the incarnation of the Son of God (John 1:14), we certainly won’t find the hope of life in all its fullness and joy if we dismiss Messiah Jesus.

We don’t know what life holds. But one thing we do know is this: our world is not getting any better. The western world is more and more wrecking itself on the rocks of unadulterated selfishness. People want happiness and hope but insist upon looking in all the wrong places.

God tells us where we can find it: in responding to him, in learning from him and leaning on him, in living lives shaped by his perfect pattern. Then, and only then, will we begin to find true happiness.

In his Christmas message in 1939, as Britain was about to enter the year of its darkest hour, King George VI quoted these compelling words: “I said to the man at the gate of the year ‘Give me a light’ that I may tread safely into the unknown’. And he replied, ‘Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God.  That will be better to you than light; safer than a known way.”

So, if we want to find true happiness, it’s worth planning a lifestyle that includes the daily reading of the Bible – developing a pattern of prayer, so we can plunge into the springs of God’s living water. The best way to begin is to not procrastinate. If you are not regularly reading the Bible, start today!

A prayer. Blessed Lord, you have caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning, grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, so that, encouraged and supported by your holy Word, we may embrace and always hold fast the joyful hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Almighty and merciful God, out of your bountiful goodness keep us from everything that may hurt us, so that we may be ready in body and soul cheerfully to accomplish whatever you want us to do: through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

You may like to listen to the Keith and Kristyn Getty and Matt Papa song, What is Our Hope in Life and Death.

© John G. Mason