Like A Tree... Who Prospers
Meg Chaney
This is the Written version of my NEW PODCAST! You can have a listen here! Or go ahead and read below.
Welcome back to the “Like A Tree” Summer Devotional Series.
We’ve been considering the different phrases in Psalm 1:3. Today we’re going to look at the final part:
““He is like a tree planted beside streams of water[d]
that bears its fruit in season[e]
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers””
Whatever he does prospers.
The Hebrew word used here is “ṣālēaḥ”. This word is used 65 times in scripture. It means “to advance, prosper, make progress, succeed, be profitable.”
This word is often used in a monetary sense, physical prosperity. But it can also be translated as “success.” To succeed in something. To accomplish what God (or we) set out to do. When we are a tree rooted securely in His word, bearing fruit for His kingdom, His plan will work out successfully in our lives. He will accomplish what He set out to accomplish in the beginning.
We live in a broken world, so we aren’t promised a life free of suffering. We aren’t even promised monetary success. We will face our share of trials in this world.
But we can still experience success, maybe just not in the way we’d originally imagined. We can still do good work for His kingdom. We can still see the fruits of a good life lived for the Lord. Our families, our jobs, our church, they can become great sucess stories in our lives!
Our prosperity will probably look far different than the world around me.
When I left graduate school to get married, I was told by a well meaning professor that I was making the biggest mistake of my life. I wasn’t continuing my education. I was missing out on all the great opportunities up around me. In this professor’s eyes, I was turning my back on a successful career.
And I understand where she was coming from. I agree, that that missed out, on not immediately going on to get my doctorate. I once had dreams of going that direction. And maybe you did that, which is so amazing. But for me, I felt the Lord leading me in a different direction. I chose marriage, and a family. My prosperity doesn’t come from my amazing income these days, but from the small humans I’ve been raising for the last decade.
Yes, I missed out on some success, but I see other precious success that the Lord has brought into my life. We are promised success, as followers of Jesus. But this success can be different, in some beautiful ways.
At the end of our lives, what kind of prosperity to we hope that we have? I hope that I’ve grown in my CHristian life. That people see the fruits of a life well lived. THat they know just how much I loved and cared for them. That I reached out to those in need. That I shared God’s love everywhere I went.
The success, the prosperity we have in Christ might not be how we expect. Just as the gifts we have, might be used in unique ways.
Will will succeed in the things we do, with the Lord by our side.
What does success and prosperity mean to you? How has the Lord changed the way you view success. I’ll leave you with this wonderful selection of Scripture, that reminds us just how different the Lord sees things then we do! It’s a great reminder that He does have great prosperity in store for us, just maybe not in ways we have considered before. Sink your roots into Him, and trust that He will accomplish what He’s set out to do!
“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.’ This is the Lord’s declaration. ‘For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so My word that comes from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do.’”