The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
Psalm 92:12-15 (NKJV)
My wife and I have lived at this location for nearly forty years. Just outside our fence there is a very tall palm tree. It has weathered every dust storm that has come our way; every frost in winter and the extreme heat of summer; yet it continues to grow. It casts its seeds and little palm trees come up from them, which I have to pull up. The city has to trim it every year because it continues to flourish.
The Psalmist likens you and I to a palm and a cedar tree. He writes that we shall flourish when we are planted in the house of the Lord and in the courts of our God. Literally, when we are established in the Lord is when we will grow to be strong. When we continue in His Word we will grow. When we are strong in the Lord, we will continue to bear the fruit of righteousness; even in old age. What is the fruit that we shall bear? Paul wrote that it is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, temperance.”
The Psalmist wrote that you will continue to be fresh and flourishing; perhaps meaning that you will be like the palm tree outside my back fence and you will not become shriveled up and ready to die a spiritual death. The evidence of your liveliness will be that you will continue to “declare that the LORD is upright; that He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
Are you flourishing? Is there evidence of it? Or, are you no longer growing strong. I don’t know how the palm trees continue to grow even when they are fifty or more feet tall, but they do. They must have something going on inside them. Perhaps, that’s why some believers continue to flourish. They must have something good going on inside them. What do you think? Amen?
