By Dennis R. Smith

What a beautiful picture the psalmist paints of the righteous man in the very first Psalm. He describes the godly in contrast to the unrighteous and what a difference there is between the two. The righteous man spends every day and night in meditation on the “law of the Lord.” His choice of friends is limited to those like himself. Evidently he realized that the association with the ungodly would not be a good influence on his own personal relationship with his Lord. One of the most interesting descriptions of this righteous man is that “his leaf also shall not wither” (1:3). The first sign of a dying tree is the withering of its leaves. The ultimate promise of this thought is the assurance that he will be known by God (1:6) and will have eternal life in heaven. However, there also seems to be the assurance that those who would duplicate this lifestyle will have the promise of being alive - active and profitable to God - during their earthly tenure. There are those (according to Rev. 3:1) who were yet alive but were unprofitable as though they were dead. What an awful state this would be!   May we all   take a long look at our lives to determine if our “tree” is still covered with fresh green leaves or have they withered and become unprofitable unto God? Remember, “life is real and life is earnest and the grave is not its goal” (Longfellow’s Psalm of Life). That being the case, may we make our lives daily one that will please God and bring a shade of blessings to others.