Planted in God’s House

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”     NIV

     
     
    There are some beautiful pictures of what the life of a truly righteous man is like. He is compared to two trees; a palm tree first of all. The essence of a palm tree is that it grows very straight, very upright and the fruit is found in the topmost part of the tree. In other words, the higher we grow the more the fruit. The cedar is the king of all trees, the most lovely, the most magnificent, and that’s also a picture of a righteous man.

     Then it speaks of being planted in the house of the Lord. That word planted is important. It speaks of commitment. Some Christians are never willing to be planted anywhere. They want to flit from place to place. They never put down roots and they never bring forth fruit. Somebody said, as a prayer, “Lord, help me to bloom where I’m planted.” And bear in mind that if you’re not planted, you will bloom nowhere.

     And as a result of being planted they still bring forth fruit in old age and their lives become a testimony to God’s faithfulness. Their very lives cry out, “The Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no wickedness in Him.” If you want to see the nature of the Lord, look at the life of the truly righteous man and you will see the Lord’s faithfulness mirrored in that man’s life.

- Derek Prince