"The Thing I Do"

Psalm 1.2-3 NAS

“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, 
And in His law he meditates day and night. He 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.”

God is a promise-maker and a promise-keeper. Today He made another promise in the first chapter of Psalms. I’m told I will prosper in “whatever” I do.

The promise is, of course, conditional. The text presumes I “delight in the law of the LORD” and meditate in it “day and night.” I love the scriptures and I think about them frequently throughout my day and evening. Do I qualify for the prosperity God promised? I assume any believer who reads and meditates on God’s Word will be so blessed. There’s nothing magic or hidden in the passage. It’s a simple, fully disclosed, straight-forward, and transparent promise made clear from the pages of a loving Creator’s Holy Book. I accept His gift of prosperity as an act of faith.

What if I choose to sin? May I assume God will prosper that decision? After all, did He not promise to prosper the one who meditates “in whatever he does?” Certainly not! The fallacy of this logic is apparent… the one whose “delight is in the law of the LORD” will undoubtedly not want to sin. While he may, in fact, occasionally miss the mark, the committed Christ-follower is not defined by his momentary lapse of judgment but by his humble confession when he does sin, and his enduring desire to serve the Lord and delight in His Word.

When I was fourteen, I had a paper route. I delivered the Post-Intelligencer around 6:00 a.m. to over one hundred clients. I was a paperboy. That’s what I used to do. 

A few years ago, I ran a business, and therefore, I was a businessman. The intention of my business was to effectively serve customers and to remain profitable. That’s the thing I used to do. My business was my personal “whatever he does” activity. If I was asked, “What do you do?,” I answered with a description of my business. That’s what I used to do. 

This day and season of life is different. My wife was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). She was only fifty and too young to die. Ten months of chemotherapy did not work, and her oncologists finally gave her only a few weeks to live. Until she died and went to heaven, I was my wife’s caretaker. That’s what I used to do.

Today, I am the Executive Director of a non-profit organization. I write, speak, counsel, and oversee addiction recovery groups. That’s the thing I do now. 

Today I am assured by the voice of God in the book of Psalms (chapter 1, verse 3) that in “whatever” I do, I will prosper. When I was a paperboy, I my paper route prospered, and I succeeded in earning a small income. When I did business, my business prospered. When I took care of my wife, our relationship prospered. Now I serve 423 Communities International and support my children and grandchildren in college, work, and life, and I have faith that my endeavors and my family will prosper.  

Thank you Jesus.

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Please check out our non-profit at www.423communities.org. Thank you.