My dearest sister,
What ideas do you have about being prosperous? Is prosperity defined in your mind by the success of your committed relationship or marriage? The amount of money you make? How happy you are with your job? Your social status? If you answer yes to any of these then we need to recalibrate our hearts and minds–not according to worldly standards but according to the standards set up in God’s word.
Psalm 1 vividly describes the prosperous man. In the very first verse, the psalmist writes, ‘Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners…but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.’ The blessed man, the prosperous man delights in God’s law and meditates on it day and night. Have you been in the Word on a regular basis? Have you let it saturate your life? I know from personal experience just how difficult it is to immerse yourself in God’s word when you are constantly being pulled in a million different directions. Dive in, dear sister! The Lord will change your heart toward it if you ask Him to and He will give you great delight in His life-giving word.
The psalmist continues saying that this man ‘is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither.’ Let that image take its full effect in your mind. Right now you’re probably imagining a great tall and robust tree with bright green leaves and deep, strong roots. The tree is prospering because it is absorbing the nutrients from the water that is planted by. Because of this it is strong and cannot be moved.
Are you feeding off of God’s word, dear one? Are you absorbing the nutrients found within its precious pages? I encourage you to start a daily devotional time if you’re not already doing so. If you feast on His word you will receive life and be prosperous no matter what your outward circumstances may be. You will be like the tree planted by streams of water that cannot be moved though storms may rage against it.
May the Lord be your faithful guide in this new year to come.
Your sister,
Kayla