The righteous will flourish like a palm tree. (Ps. 92:12)
I flourish in the remote wilderness and wooded mountains, so I never thought I would like a cruise. But when my wife insisted, I was surprised to enjoy bustling island life in lieu of wilderness, emerald-colored seas instead of mountains, and palm trees in place of pines.
One photo I took captures it for me. Not bothering to get up, I took it from a reclined position in a hammock, with a book in my lap and sandals on my feet, with a beautiful palm tree stretched out into the unbroken blue sky. I think of that picture when I read Psalm 92:12: “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree.” I don’t know how righteous I’ve been, but I felt like I was flourishing just fine on that island looking up at that palm tree!
We look around us and presume that evil is flourishing instead of God. It seems that “senseless” people (v. 6) are succeeding. That the “wicked” (v. 7) and the “evildoers” and “enemies” (v. 9) all around us are prospering when they shouldn’t. God reminds us that such trends are temporary. We need not fret over the success or failure of those who aren’t doing things God’s way. We can be confident that we are “planted in the house of the Lord” and we will “flourish in the courts of our God” (v. 13).
Love enemies and evildoers without bitterness.
David Drury is a multivocational second-chair leader, org founder, church planter, author, researcher for author Max Lucado, and previous chief of staff for The Wesleyan Church headquarters.
© 2021 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
