The first psalm teaches us that the one who delights in God’s law will be blessed, that he will be like a tree planted by streams of water. The second teaches that the Lord’s King will triumph over his enemies. He will break his enemies with a rod of iron. They both teach that the wicked will perish. They warn God’s enemies to kiss the Son and worship him. If we were to assume what the whole psalter was going to look like based only on the first two psalms, we would imagine a book of praises, full of songs of thanksgiving, exulting God, and hoping for the coming Messiah.
But that is not all that we find. To be sure, we do find all of those elements throughout the psalter in abundance. In fact, the final 5 psalms, Psalm 146–150, break forth as a hallelujah chorus, which believers have sung for thousands of years. But we also find great struggles, sins, pains, and tears. Though the first two psalms proclaim a mighty King, the next five tell a different story. The King’s life is endangered by many enemies (3:1), he is in distress (4:1), and he fears being ripped apart (7:2). After reading those 5 psalms back-to-back, one has to ask, “What happened?” If the first two psalms proclaim a victorious King, the next five certainly look like the King is losing.
To answer that question, we must return to Psalm 1:3. Here we see that the blessed man “is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither” (ESV). This verse communicates two truths about the image of a tree. First, the blessed man, the one constantly delighting in the Lord’s Law, is continually receiving life. The stream is always flowing and the leaf is never withering. Second, though its leaf does not wither, the tree only “bears its fruit in its season.” Here we ought not to think of “fruit” as the fruit of the Spirit, but rather as the experiential blessings and kindnesses God grants to his faithful people. With this in mind, Psalm 1 does not carry the promise that the blessed man is constantly fruitful. Rather, it promises that his fruit will come “in its season.”
This second point is a small point in this illustration, and that too is significant. Psalm 1 is not laboring to teach us that this man is blessed because he is (eventually) fruitful. That is true, but that is not the main point. Rather, it teaches that he is blessed because, as he is constantly delighting in the Word of God, he is receiving life in every season. The blessedness is constant, even if the fruitfulness is seasonal.
With these truths in mind, we can return to Psalms 3–7. Doing so, we can see their beauty rightly. Though the King in these psalms is in an ‘unfruitful season,’ facing challenges, he can trust that God will give him fruit in season. And while these psalms are certainly laments, the faith demonstrated in them is astonishing (for example, see 3:6; 4:7–8; 5:12; 7:10). Though the King is suffering, his suffering will not last, and he is confident of that.
In many ways, college and seminary is an unfruitful time. Not that it is not a time of spiritual growth (because it most certainly is), but that it is a time of preparation, of difficulty, of pruning. It is a season of laboring for fruit which may not be produced for some time. But one reason the psalter is beautiful, and one reason why it has been treasured throughout the ages, is because it teaches us how to trust, pray, and sing while we await a fruitful season. And it gives us confidence that such a season will come, and if not here, then in the world to come.
Joshua Wilks
Seminarian
Prayer Requests
- Pray that our students will not neglect the streams of living water (Word, prayer, Church) in the midst of a season of difficult work, especially as the end of the semester comes near.
- Pray that our students would demonstrate beautiful faith and hope during the trials that come during education.
- Pray for the full funding of The Serious Joy Scholarships needed to support this year’s students.