Psalm 92:12. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Ah mih fellow believers, it’s the first day of the week, Sunday, the Lord’s Day, so let’s treat it as such nuh! Therefore, in accordance with what we spoke about on Friday, let’s get some rest and relaxation and fellowship today, so we can begin the workweek tomorrow, bright, fresh and full of energy, rather than tired, falling down and complaining.
Yuh know that’s the source of all our Monday blues problems; we begin the workweek tired, because we don’t get enough rejuvenation on the weekend, thus before we even leave home, we’re already on the downward slide.
But if we rejuvenate ourselves, at least on Sundays, then come Monday, we won’t be deathly tired, barely able to move, but ready, willing and able to get out and do an excellent job for Jesus, because we’re physically, emotionally and spiritually refreshed.
That’s the principle I’ve been trying to foster in us with our Friday Chant, but without as much success as I’d like. Too many believers are still moaning and groaning on a Monday morning. I guess it’s a whole new mind set, a new way of thinking that we’ve got to acquire. Instead of starting the workweek off in the dumps, we need to begin it on a high, which we can only do by being rejuvenated in all areas of our lives.
That way the work days won’t be as rough and challenging, for when we start on a low rung of the ladder, it gets lower much more quickly than if we begin at the top, and by mid-week we’re dead tired, so by Friday, we’re just barely hanging on, of no use to anybody, not even ourselves.
And we can begin changing our mind set RIGHT NOW by embracing the positive vibrations, the vitality and faithful promise contained in our Bit. ‘The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.’
Yes Friends, let’s focus on that picture of fruitfulness and strong, tall growth! Let’s see it through our eyes of faith; see ourselves going out to work tomorrow in a different, more positive frame of mind, like eager beavers and not tired dogs.
Now like most changes in our lives, it’s not going to happen overnight, especially if we’ve had a lifelong negative attitude. And it definitely won’t happen without God’s help. But if we seriously buckle down and try it, eventually we’ll develop the right mindset and will be pleasantly surprised at how much more productive and joyful we are, both at home and abroad, in all walks of life.
Now let’s turn to some energizing and uplifting scripture that will help us grow fruitful like the palm tree, and tall and strong like the towering cedars of Lebanon. And we’ll begin with some wise words of Bruh David from Psalm 52, where he preaches caution to the prideful wicked.
He ends the psalm by declaring: ‘Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness (destruction). But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.’ (Ps.52:8-9)
Yes my brethren, when we put our sincere trust in Almighty God and walk obediently in His will, like Bruh David did, we’ll most certainly flourish and be fruitful!
Just like Jeremiah tells it, re the blessedness of trusting the Lord. ‘Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see (fear) when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful (anxious) in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.’ (Jer.17:7-8)
What more can we ask for eh Friends? Nothing really!
Now listen to how Hosea puts it, in entreating Israel to return to the Lord. ‘I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast froth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as corn, and grow as the vine: the scent (lit. remembrance) thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree (cypress). From (in) me is thy fruit found.’ (Hos.14:5-8)
Oh my brethren, the fruitfulness and strength that comes from walking with God is exciting, interesting and certainly beyond measure, with wonderful surprises all along the way!
But we must first do our part by putting it all into sincere and constant action, if we intend to flourish and grow strong. Walking with the Lord is not a fly-by-night operation as we encounter so much these days in our untrustworthy world, but a lifelong vocation, an eternal relationship!
And we couldn’t ask for a better ending to today’s message than this last verse of Hosea. ‘Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressor shall fall (stumble) therein.’ (Hos.14:9)
Now that’s the ultimate in wisdom and common sense my brethren!
So please my people, let’s wisely embrace it nuh, in a show of true wisdom and common sense, (smile) for it’s the only way we’ll ever truly flourish and grow strong in this calamitous world. Much LOVE!
…true wisdom is of God…so if you’re not walking with Him…then you’re definitely not wise…and neither can you ever hope to attain true wisdom…
SCRIP-BITS 