Epiphany 6 / Ordinary Time 6
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither.
-- Psalm 1:3
By placing this psalm as a response to the Jeremiah 17:5-10 passage, the lectionary has emphasized the issue of choice and the impact on life of one's connection with God. Psalm 1 also recalls the context of Joshua 24:15 in which Joshua has reminded the people of all that God has done for them and challenges them, "... choose this day whom you will serve ... but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." The scriptures continually emphasized the amazement that God had not only chosen them but also the necessity of the people responding by making their own choice.
We are both destined and responsible for our own choice in life. Using the hyperbole common to the psalmist, the choice is described as an "either/or" choice. The choice was between the wicked and the righteous. The righteous were those whose "delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night" (v. 2). The anchor to such a life was a focus on the way of God as seen in the law or instruction of God. Those who did not have such an anchor "are like chaff that the wind drives away" (v. 4). For the psalmist, God was the author of life, and, therefore, seeking God's purpose meant that you were drawing on the very source of nutrients in life. The image is that such a person was "like trees planted by streams of water" (v. 3).
While the choice is painted in either/or terms, with no room for ambiguity, the invitation is not to a life of narrow rigidity. Life that has direction is freer than life that is aimless. The price of that freedom, however, is a constant alertness to how you might best reflect the purpose that feeds your life with energy. Now you draw energy not from satisfying your own ego but from fulfilling God's purpose. Your life finds its meaning in a much larger story to which you are now contributing. This psalm serves as an introduction to the book of Psalms that will explore these themes in greater detail.
-- Psalm 1:3
By placing this psalm as a response to the Jeremiah 17:5-10 passage, the lectionary has emphasized the issue of choice and the impact on life of one's connection with God. Psalm 1 also recalls the context of Joshua 24:15 in which Joshua has reminded the people of all that God has done for them and challenges them, "... choose this day whom you will serve ... but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." The scriptures continually emphasized the amazement that God had not only chosen them but also the necessity of the people responding by making their own choice.
We are both destined and responsible for our own choice in life. Using the hyperbole common to the psalmist, the choice is described as an "either/or" choice. The choice was between the wicked and the righteous. The righteous were those whose "delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night" (v. 2). The anchor to such a life was a focus on the way of God as seen in the law or instruction of God. Those who did not have such an anchor "are like chaff that the wind drives away" (v. 4). For the psalmist, God was the author of life, and, therefore, seeking God's purpose meant that you were drawing on the very source of nutrients in life. The image is that such a person was "like trees planted by streams of water" (v. 3).
While the choice is painted in either/or terms, with no room for ambiguity, the invitation is not to a life of narrow rigidity. Life that has direction is freer than life that is aimless. The price of that freedom, however, is a constant alertness to how you might best reflect the purpose that feeds your life with energy. Now you draw energy not from satisfying your own ego but from fulfilling God's purpose. Your life finds its meaning in a much larger story to which you are now contributing. This psalm serves as an introduction to the book of Psalms that will explore these themes in greater detail.
