Carve Your Name upon the Rock

Psalm 1 provides a nice outline that illustrates the blessedness of a person who meditates on God’s Word day and night. Here in these verses we find a person of God’s permanence, position, productivity, and prosperity.

First we find this particular man’s permanence: “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water” (verse 3). This man is not some wild tree that is growing off on its own. He has been planted. And who planted him there? God planted him; and the man who meditates on God’s Word sinks his roots deep in God.

Second, there is the man’s productivity. Psalm 1:3 tells us that this man “brings forth [his] fruit in [his] season.” If you are a believer who is meditating on God’s Word day and night, your life will bear spiritual fruit. Galatians 5:22–23 tells us that this fruit is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” When we are fruitful, our lives bring forth Christ-like results.

Then we find this man’s propriety. Psalm 1:3 tells us that the person who mediates on God’s Word is like a tree that “brings forth its fruit in its season.” This is not an overnight process. It takes time to grow. But in time that growth comes.

Finally there is the man’s prosperity: “whatever he does shall prosper” (verse 3). A person who meditates on God’s Word possesses an entire life that has found its balance, because she or he is properly aligned with God.

The great British preacher C. H. Spurgeon once said, “The righteous carves his name upon the rock, while the wicked writes his remembrance in the sand.” Meditate on God’s Word day and night so that you can carve your name upon the rock.