Psalms 92: 12-15—”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.”
Many times after toiling hard with integrity, we notice that some dishonest, lazy, callous, aimless, or random person gets felicitated or given a fat bonus. What is our first reaction – complain, give up, get demotivated, self pity party? Hang on… Who has brought those thoughts in your mind? Well, that person just waits to see you, God’s chosen child, pulled down. He wants to whisper deceit in your ears when you feel low. He wants you to raise that sleeping green-eyed monster of envy. He wants to sow some doubt into your soul. Are you going to fall for that, again?
1-When you are happy, when you are low, look to God and His Word. God has promised us that although the wicked may prosper, it will only be short lived. They cannot prosper through eternity with their lifestyle.
2-We cannot compare ourselves with them? We have been chosen, called out. We live by the lifelines of God’s mercy and the grace of the Gospel that surround us. When we obey the Word (seeking our salvation and the grace of the Gospel) we receive the Redeemer’s glory which brings with it a daily anointing of the Holy Spirit. From God’s grace, the living Word and the Holy Spirit, we receive all the virtue, to keep us alive and fruitful for a long time.
3-Others may lose everything in front of you, or you may see their downfall. Else when old, others will see a weakening and unfruitfulness. Even at that time, if we are clinging to Christ, God’s grace will continue to keep our virtue and life fruitful. We ‘will’ see abundance and flourishing lives. Knowing this, we can rest more on God – our righteousness.
Who do you want to believe today – Satan’s whisper to react to a temporary situation, or God’s whispered promise of His presence and prosperity to the virtuous?
“My ears are filled with the sounds of promise: ‘Good people will prosper like palm trees,… They’ll grow tall in the presence of God, lithe and green, virile still in old age.’”(Psalms)
