Psalm 1:3-4 "How Hydrated are You?"

Young palm tree planted
alongside the Jordan River

Psalm 1:3-4

"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.
The wicked are not so,
    but are like chaff that the wind drives away."

Comments:

I have commented on this psalm at least four times, but never on these two verses. Three times I have written on v.1-2 and once on the concluding verses 5-6. I touched on v. 1-2 again in my comments on the crucifixion of Christ in Mark 15 so I am moving to new verses today.

These verses describe the man who delights in the Lord rather than in mocking the things of God. Here the psalmist moves from the urban imagery of the city gates to a more rural metaphor of the tree planted by a stream. One of my former pastors (the late Chuck Updike) used to say that the tree had been transplanted from where it had been to beside the stream. The verb shäthal' can mean either planted or transplanted and is used once by Jeremiah (17:8) and six times by Ezekiel in chapters 17 and 19. When Israel delighted in the Lord they were a well-watered tree or vine, but when they despised the Lord they were described as being plucked up and dried by the east wind.

The simple question for us today is, “How hydrated are you?” A few years ago I visited my brother at the fire station in Central Washington where he worked at the time and saw something that caught my eye. In the bathroom, there was a handy colored chart for determining the firefighter’s level of hydration by their urine color. It might sound gross but very helpful when fighting brush fires in the heat and wind. Here is a similar chart.

If we are not properly hydrated it will rapidly deteriorate our physical and mental performance. Experts recommend between 1/2 and 1 ounce of water per day for every pound of body weight. That seems crazy high! However, the point is that we need to drink more water than we do. Too many people think they are drinking enough liquids but what they are drinking may actually dehydrate them further (Coffee, tea, caffeinated sodas, etc.). The question of hydration in the context of Psalm 1 prompts me to ask about our spiritual hydration. Are we spiritually dehydrated? The people around us can probably tell by what comes out of our lives on a daily basis.

The man who delights in the Lord doesn't dry out but is continually refreshed by the living water God provides. He also bears good fruit. I wonder if we were to use a chart like this to measure our words, actions, and attitude for a spiritual hydration level if it might keep our tinder dry tongues from starting a wildfire (see James 3)?

Sun-dried lawn

Many years ago I joined a health club and they did some electronic tests to determine my hydration level. The trainer said normal was from 45 to 70% (I was about 60% in case you were wondering). However, she said that some people that drink diet pop come in and score a 19% and their skin is so dry it looks like it’s going to crumble and fall off. Are we drinking something that truly brings us life so that we might have good fruit to share with others? I want to delight in the Lord this week, everything else is like diet pop! May the Lord transplant us by the streams of water that come from his presence and may it refresh everyone we meet. As we read ahead to Psalm 92:12-13,

The righteous flourish like the palm tree
    and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
    they flourish in the courts of our God.

It is no surprise that Jesus Christ, the means by which we are “planted in the house of the Lord,” instructed both a marginalized Samaritan woman at a village well, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14) And also admonished the gathered people of Israel on the last day of the Feast of Booths (which commemorated the process of their being transplanted from slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land),

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 

Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37-39)

The very ending of the Bible contains an invitation for those who thirst to come to Jesus Christ and receive the water of life, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.” (Rev. 21:6) This is also the final cry of the Holy Spirit and the people of God, the Church,

    The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.”

And let the one who hears say, “Come.”

And let the one who is thirsty      come;

       let the one who desires take the water of life without price. (Rev. 22:17)

Feeling dry and a bit crispy in the hot winds of summer? Delight in the Lord and allow his Word to consistently water your soul.