Slices
Prepare
How beautiful are trees: their stretching out heavenwards; the shelter they give; the statement they make. What kind of tree might you see yourself as? Praise God for his creation and thank him that you are part of it.
Bible passage
A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day.
1 It is good to praise the Lord
and make music to your name, O Most High,
2 proclaiming your love in the morning
and your faithfulness at night,
3 to the music of the ten-stringed lyre
and the melody of the harp.
4 For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord;
I sing for joy at what your hands have done.
5 How great are your works, Lord,
how profound your thoughts!
6 Senseless people do not know,
fools do not understand,
7 that though the wicked spring up like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be destroyed for ever.
8 But you, Lord, are for ever exalted.
9 For surely your enemies, Lord,
surely your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be scattered.
10 You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox;
fine oils have been poured on me.
11 My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries;
my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.
12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
13 planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They will still bear fruit in old age,
they will stay fresh and green,
15 proclaiming, ‘The Lord is upright;
he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.’
Explore
I feel as though, in our readings this week through Obadiah and Nahum, we have held our breath as disaster followed disaster and God’s anger was heaped down on his enemies. But today there is a gear change in this Sabbath psalm. There is still talk of evildoers and destruction (v 7), but mainly we are concerned with a man addressing God directly and very personally. He trusts God in a way the people of Nineveh and Edom did not (v 6). He can look forward. They could only look back.
I love the word ‘flourish’ (v 12). Here, it sends such a powerfully positive message. It makes me think of a dramatic gesture. The tree not only grows (v 12), but grows with style and panache. Evildoers may flourish, but are short-lived, like grass (v 7). It is easy to mow down grass. But a tree? A tree planted in the house of God will flourish, even when it grows old (v 14). And, for those of us who have already reached a certain maturity of age, that is welcome news! Praise God!
Respond
Get a sheet of paper and sign your name – with a flourish! Thank God for your life in him and ask him to help you to be his signature in our world.
Deeper Bible study
‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.’1 How does your life glorify God? In what ways do you enjoy God?
The psalms frequently exhort, ‘Praise the Lord!’ In Reflections on the Psalms, CS Lewis wonders – as some of us may do – just why God insists on commanding, even demanding, our praise; does he really need our praise? Today’s psalm, however, does not command but asserts that ‘It is good to praise the Lord’ (v 1, italics added). Praise is our right and fitting response to God, but it is also good and beneficial for us. Lewis writes, quoting the Westminster Shorter Catechism, ‘Man’s chief end is “to glorify God and enjoy him for ever.” But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify him, God is inviting us to enjoy him’; he adds, ‘The duty exists for the delight.’2
Since hearts tuned to praise are attuned to God’s Spirit, they are enabled to grasp not just the wonder of God’s works but also the wisdom of his ways (v 5). ‘Fools’ fail to understand that although evildoers may quickly ‘flourish’, they will also swiftly ‘perish’ (see vs 6,7,9). ‘Horn’ symbolises strength and ‘oils’ may represent anointing (v 10) – those who extol God as the one ‘for ever exalted’ (v 8) are strengthened and empowered to view earthly realities through the lens of God’s perspective; and so they anticipate and acclaim God’s ultimate victory over evil (v 11). The ‘wicked’ are likened to ‘grass’ (v 7) but the ‘righteous’ to trees (v 12). ‘The grass withers and the flowers fall’,3 but these trees remain fresh, flourishing and fruitful, enjoying permanent residence in God’s presence (vs 12–14)! The psalm has come a full cycle of praise – from ‘proclaiming’ God’s love and faithfulness (v 2) to ‘proclaiming’ his righteousness and acclaiming him as ‘Rock’ (v 15).
God is shaping ‘a people custom-made to praise’.4 Our call to praise will never end. Whenever you praise God, you are practising for eternity!
1 Westminster Shorter Catechism, 1646–47 2 CS Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms, Geoffrey Bles, 1958, p97 3 Isa 40:7 4 Isa 43:21, The Message
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: 2 Samuel 3–5; 1 Corinthians 3
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray for 14 young leaders to register for the Leadership Lab International TRANSFORM programme run by SU Global which will take place this summer.
