Today, we are going to take another detour from the Book of Colossians. I started to read the Book of Psalms again the other day, and I was just struck again by the beauty of Psalm 1:
1How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night. 3He will be like a tree firmly planted by [streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. 4The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. 5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.
If I remember correctly from my English classes a long time ago, a simile is a comparison using like or as. Even if I am wrong, let’s just go with it :). A person in this psalm is compared to two things – read the passage again to see what they are. The two things are a tree and chaff. So, do you want to be like a tree of like chaff? Notice how the tree is described – firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. Now, that sounds like a healthy tree! But don’t miss the comparison. How can I be a healthy man like that healthy tree? Well, verse one basically tells us to watch who you are spending time with. As someone once said, we need to be in the world but not of the world. So, who are you hanging around with – people who build you up or help tear you down? Verse 2 tells us the healthy man delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night! Is your delight the Word of God? Are you constantly spending time in it? If you do, the psalmist says you will be like a healthy tree – bearing fruit and not withering!
Now, the other comparison is the man who is like chaff. Now, you may ask – what is chaff? Smith’s Bible Dictionary defines it like this: “the husk of corn or wheat which was separated from the grain by being thrown into the air, the wind blowing away the chaff.” Basically, the chaff is not the part of the grain you eat – it is the worthless part. Chaff is blown away by the wind. It has no direction on its own. The tree is firmly planted – the chaff is driven away by the wind. The person who hangs around the wrong company and does not delight in God’s Word has no direction – no standard for life. One final point – there is an eternal reward or punishment for each of these two types of men. So, will you be like a firmly planted tree or directionless, worthless chaff? Thankfully, if you are believer, you have a firm foundation, a perfect root system, and the Word of God – Jesus Christ! See you next week back in Colossians!