The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,
Psalms 92:12 (NIV)
they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon.
Whether or not you feel like you are flourishing now, God promises that you will. We all want to flourish, to grow in abundance and be fruitful. God made us to flourish (“be fruitful and multiply” Gen. 1:18) and so he made us with the desire to flourish. We have barriers to flourishing now – our weaknesses and the corruption all around us – but God will make you flourish in part now and fully in the next age. Our hearts flourish now as we abide in Christ and partake of his virtues.
The Bible likes to compare God’s followers to trees in order to illustrate how we will flourish. Psalm 1:3 says we are like a tree planted by a stream; in other words, we have plenty of sustenance for growth. In today’s passage we are like a palm tree or a cedar of Lebanon. The cedars of Lebanon were known in the ancient Mediterranean world as among the most majestic and valuable trees in the world. In John 15 Jesus says he is like a vine (presumably a grapevine) and we are branches that can abide in him. Even better, if we do abide in him then we will bear fruit (John 15:5). Later in today’s Psalm we read that the righteous will “bear fruit in old age”.
So we are encouraged that we are a wonderful growing tree that bears fruit with eternal value. We do not have to “bear fruit” in the way the world does – thru money or sensual pleasure or visual thrills or worldly honor. As we bear the fruit of the Spirit we flourish more than any of them. We bear fruit in our occupation by walking in the Spirit. God’s originally calling for human fruitfulness will be fulfilled in us from now thru eternity.
