The other day I was reading through one of my summer books and I came across a verse from Psalm 1 that stood out to me unlike it ever has before. It was Psalm 1:3 (ESV) and it says “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.”
Now, I read Psalms all the time. It is my favorite book of the Bible. Regardless of what else I am studying in the Bible, I always take the time to read at least one chapter of the Psalms during my quiet time. Even if that is all I have time to read that day, Psalm is my home base. It has been for years. There is just something about the way the Lord speaks to my heart in the words of the psalmists — the highs and the lows expressed; the very real vulnerability of a hurting heart seeking God; the praises given to the sovereign Lord made out of the choice of love when sight, feelings, and circumstances fail. God just never fails to meet me there.
So when I read over those words in a book not the Bible and felt a chord strike, I had to go back and sit with it. For a little bit more context, here are verses 1-3 in the CSB translation:
“How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”
Now, let me tell you the part that got me this time. In verse 3, it says that the tree will bear fruit in its season. Why does this matter? Well, sometimes I think that we expect to always be bearing the fruit of our seasons because we are planted in God. And I don’t mean the fruit of the Spirit here. That’s a different context and should be the seen as the overflow of a life lived out in obedience of the Spirit.
No, what I am talking about here is not the fruit of our character but the fruit of our labor or fruit of our healing or the fruit of our waiting that we often long to see in seasons where we know we are walking with God and doing all the right things and we feel firmly planted by the stream of Living Water but it doesn’t seem to be making any difference in our circumstances.
Let me tell you, I have felt that so deeply. There have been seasons where I have been so confident in God’s leading and speaking over the next steps I should take and yet taking those steps is so hard it feels like I must have heard God wrong. I then expected to see the abundance and overflow of God’s blessing in immediate response to my obedience (aka the fruit) because I was pretty firmly planted by that stream of flowing, holy, living water.
But the thing is, it’s taken time to begin to see purpose and blessing in many seasons. Fruit does not blossom and grow immediately in nature, and it often follows the same rhythm in our own lives. There are times when I have had to fight hard to let God grow and prune the fruit that is blossoming so I may enjoy the results. I have had to dig my roots in deeper and deeper to continue to connect to the source of Life.
And how it all ties into that specific verse and my wow moment is this: the verse does not say the tree connected to water will grow fruit at all times and in all season. The verse says that the tree planted by living water produces fruit in its season. Get it? The tree isn’t dead just because it isn’t producing specific fruit. A few words later, it says talks about how the leaves do not wither, even without the fruit. And leaves are a part of the tree that grow and show the life of the tree in all seasons, even when it is not the season for the fruit. The leaves and the roots and the branches of a tree all have to continue to grow and stay strong to bear the fruit of the season.
So what is the point in this fruity analogy? I think there are a lot of times that we get caught up in what we see as prosperity and blessing and “fruit.” We are promised in this very chapter that when we are planted firmly in God, whatever we do will prosper. But maybe sometimes we need to hold a different perspective. Because if we take a real apple tree for example, it only produces apples for a certain period of the year, but it does not mean that the apple tree is dead in the winter when the apples are all gone and the leaves have fallen. Because fallen leaves are still different than withered leaves.
And the thing is, even if my leaves fall to the ground because I am in a season of winter, where life feels cold, lonely, and hard and I just don’t see the fruit, or blessing because of my obedience to God, I never want to see my leaves withered because I’ve become disconnected to the Living Water. In all seasons of life, whether I see the work of God clearly or not, I don’t want to focus on my circumstances and the outcome. I want to have my roots so firmly planted in the stream that I only have eyes for Jesus. And when my season to bear fruit comes, it will be a gift and overflow, not a right or expectation.
I know this has been quite an analogy, but I pray that God uses it to speak to your heart all the same. I don’t know what you are walking through in this moment, but I pray that you dig your roots down deep and connect to the only source of Life, Jesus Christ, for He is the Living Water that sustains us. And in time, in the right season, I pray you find that you are unexpectedly living in the blessing of your obedience and grounding in the Word.
Deep Diving 