What do the tree, water, and fruit mean? What does the “prosperity” spoken of in this verse look like? I discuss all of this in this very powerful verse.

When you “delight in the Law of the Lord” and “meditate day and night” on it, true Biblical prosperity is the result.

Here is the video link:

Psalm 1:3

The audio links are to the right (Spotify and iTunes).

Here is the transcript for today’s podcast:

1:3 Like a Tree…

3  That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.

The happiness or “blessedness” of the godly can be visualized by looking at a tree planted by a stream. Unlike trees growing wild or planted in the fields, where the amount of rainfall varies in accordance with the whims of nature, THIS tree has uninterrupted access to water, regardless of whether or not there is rain.

Here is a passage from Ezekiel where he describes a river he sees in a vision. This river is pouring out of the Temple, healing the land. It sounds VERY similar to what the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 1.

Ezekiel 47:12

12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”

This man “yields his fruit in season”. what fruit? Let’s look at the trees. What kind of fruit does an orange tree yield? The Apple tree? The fig tree? The answer is easy. These trees produce the fruit they were designed to produce. So what fruit is the “blessed man” designed to produce? Answer – the fruit he or she was DESIGNED to produce.

As I am an expert on no one but myself, let me provide an example from my life. God has designed me to be two things, primarily.

1. Firstly – I am the head of my family. God designed me to be a husband and a father. The fruit from THAT tree looks like this:
   1. I am still married to the same woman I met 50 years ago. We just celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary. I call that blessed.
   2. I have two children, one who grew up to be a successful businesswoman in her field, and a son who grew up to be a very successful music teacher for elementary age children.
2. Secondly, I am a professional musician. God designed me to be a musician. For the last 23 years, I have taught children from primarily Christian families. My lessons focus on basic music theory and music of the Church. Though it is hard to quantify success in this, here is a metric that encourages me:
   1. I have probably averaged 30 private students a week. There are four weeks in a month, 12 months in a year, and I have taught students for 24 years. In accord with basic math that means that 
      1. (30×4 weeks) = 120 students in a month
      2. (120×12 months) = 1,400 students in a year
      3. (1,440×24 years) = 34,560 students in the 24 years I have been teaching.

This means that in the 24 years I have been teaching lessons to what are mostly children from Christian families, my life has intersected with my students 34,560 times. That is 34,560 times that I have had the opportunity to bring Christian principles and music principles into the lives of my students.

I cannot tell you how many “divine appointments” were realized during lessons over the years. Praying with, and for my students, opening the Word of God to them, counseling them etc. I CAN tell you that this tree has given its fruit in every season because I am drinking from God’s river i.e. God’s Word.

When I read the opening verses to this Psalm, I see the blessed man is the tree, and the stream of water is the Word of God. The Word of God has always been central in my life, and as a result, I am always bearing fruit… with my family, and with my students.

Another thought that occurs to me is that “out of one tree come many”. Out of all the students I have had over the years, some of them have gone on to be worship leaders, others have gone on to teach music, and ALL of them have learned to love music and music will always be part of their lives.

I am the blessed man in this Psalm!

One last thought… “…and every thing he does prospers…”

First of all, here is the meaning of this word from a Hebrew dictionary:

2 ṣālaḥ2, v. [55] [√ 10613]. [Q] to prosper, prevail, succeed, avail; [H] to make a success, grant prosperity, make victorious:

“Prosperity” isn’t just about dollars and cents. There are many ways to display prosperity – to succeed at something, to prevail in a given situation, to be victorious.

Sometimes prosperity wears an unexpected mask.

I am thinking of a favorite movie “Karate Kid” – an 80’s movie about a teen boy  – Daniel – who is bullied and ends up being tutored by Mr. Miyagi in Karate. Initially, Daniel thinks he is learning Karate in order to fight back. Of course the does indeed happen, but in one important sequence, Daniel is led to a surprisingly different conclusion by Mr. Miyagi:

• Daniel: Hey – you ever get into fights when you were a kid?
• Miyagi: Huh – plenty.
• Daniel: Yeah, but it wasn’t like the problem I have, right?
• Miyagi: Why? Fighting fighting. Same same.
• Daniel: Yeah, but you knew karate.
• Miyagi: Someone always know more.
• Daniel: You mean there were times when you were scared to fight?
• Miyagi: Always scare. Miyagi hate fighting.
• Daniel: Yeah, but you like karate.
• Miyagi: So?
• Daniel: So, karate’s fighting. You train to fight.
• Miyagi: That what you think?
• Daniel: [pondering] No.
• Miyagi: Then why train?
• Daniel: [thinks] So I won’t have to fight.
• Miyagi: [laughs] Miyagi have hope for you.

Karate isn’t just about fighting. Prosperity isn’t just about money and wealth. I most certainly do NOT have a ton of money or property or things. But I can confidently assert that I am indeed prosperous. I am that tree, planted by the stream, prospering.

One important thing to remember – in order to claim this “prosperity” for your life, you need to pay heed to  a couple of things.

1. You NEED to be meditating in His Word. When that becomes the case, then the Words of God will groom you for the fruit He has for you to produce. The Word of God is the water… without water, the tree withers and bears nothing.
2. You NEED to realize that this is God’s “long game” for you. This is not an overnight event. The tree does not grow overnight. You will need to make a conscious effort to put the Bible in the center of your life. Then you, as a tree in HIS garden, drawing from HIS river (the Word of God) will grow into maturity and eventually bear fruit.

Blessings!

Paige