Planted in the Text

Texts:
- Psalms 1-4
- Matthew 1-2
- Ezekiel 40-41

The first psalm brilliantly illuminates my focus the next step of my journey. As You continue to build me, I am turning to Your text with a renewed passion. I am trusting that this Word that You have inspired will become both formational and missional for me, that it will shape who I am and what I do.

So the first psalm is a great place to start. First of all, it starts with a blessing. Now, I am about as far removed as one can be from seeking a health/wealth message from this text, but true blessing is a holy, living, inspiring message. It means far more than having everything I want, it means having everything that You want.

But even more important to me is why the man is blessed: he delights in Your law (Word). He meditates on it night and day. Here is my own desire. Meditation on the Word, night and day. I want the words of the Scripture to get inside me, inspire my imagination, drop me down into the Biblical world, let me walk around and converse with patriarchs, prophets, authors, God Almighty himself, and even Christ Jesus. Meditation puts me in the state of mind to enter into You.

As I follow the psalm to the next verse, the man who meditates on the text becomes like "a tree planted by streams of water... whose leaf does not wither." I love the whole metaphor of planting. Not that it has not been used before. I mean it much in the same way that I use the phrase "grounded in" something. These things that we are grounded in or planted in are our basic understandings that we grow from, that we work with, that we "roll our tongues around" and appreciate the full flavor, and in the end, they are the things that we love.

Growing up, I was grounded in the importance of family. My parents made sure that the context that surrounded me at all times was one of support by my family. Hence, I am deeply rooted in the beliefs and customs of my family. That was the place where I received my basic understandings and started to grow, to mature, to branch out, to test, to question. But in every success or failure to do so, I return to the "grounding" reality of my family.

I have seen as I study Exodus with my community how You value grounding. You plant the work that You does in reality, for You value and love the "real" world that You created, with all its flaws and heartache. You plant Your people squarely in Your name, YHWH, for You are assuring us of the power and love of that name. You ground the mission of heaven in Your people below, for You love to call us to help the world grow in the way Your will desires.

And so, as I grow, I want to be planted in Your beautiful text. A text of reality, of Your name, of Your people. A text of life.

As I leave this time of silence this morning, may I not forget the tree, planted by streams of Your water. May I not forget that the reason this tree is planted not simply to grow tall in its own health, but to yield its fruit in season. May my meditation be on the Words You have given, and not on the words that worry my heart. And may I take Your words and live them. Blessed are You, Lord God of the Word, for the language You speak to the hearts of man. Amen.