Psalm 92:12-15: Planted in the House of the Lord

INTRODUCTION:

In Psalm 92 the psalmist compares evildoers to grass that flourishes for a season and then dies.

But he compares righteous people to trees—strong and beautiful and long-lived:

The righteous flourish like the palm tree,

and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

They are planted in the house of the Lord,

they flourish in the courts of our God.

They still bring forth fruit in old age,

they will stay fresh and green,

to show that the Lord is upright;

he is my Rock,

and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Before we go on, I want to get rid of a misunderstanding of the word “righteous.”

If I describe you as “righteous,” you probably won’t take it as a compliment—because the word “righteous” has come to mean—to many people—“self-righteous,” sanctimonious, “holier than thou.”

But that’s not what “righteous” means in the Bible.

In the Bible “righteous” is what God is. And a person who is “righteous” is full of goodness, like God. To be righteous is to be loving and generous, merciful and kind.

When the Bible wants to praise someone, that’s the word it often uses. Zechariah and Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s parents, are described as “righteous before the Lord.”

And old Simeon, who took the baby Jesus in his arms at the Temple, is described as “righteous and devout and looking for the consolation of Israel.”

In Matthew 25, Jesus describes the “righteous” as those who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit the prisoners.

One of my favorite verses in Proverbs reads: “The memory of the righteous is a blessing” (10.7).

There are people in my past, who bless me every time I think of them. These are my teachers and my examples, people who loved me and prayed for me. Their memory blesses me.

The “righteous” are not people who are so good that they deserve God’s favor. They are not people who have earned their way to heaven. The “righteous” are people who love God, and who love and serve other people in practical ways. They are the people through whom God’s goodness shines.

Righteous people know they are needy, and they live lives of thankfulness to God who has come into their lives.

Righteous people are people who sin—and confess their sin—and strive to make corrections in their lives—and grow into Christlikeness.

I. The writer of this psalm compares righteous people to two kinds of trees—the palm tree and the cedar of Lebanon.

A. “The righteous flourish like a palm tree.”

This is the date palm. The date palm is famous for its beauty.

The lover in the Song of Songs says to his beloved:

“How fair and pleasant you are,

O loved one, delectable maiden!

You are stately as a palm tree…”

(Song of Songs 7:6-7)

This graceful tree can grow to 90 feet tall. It is said to be the most useful tree on earth. There are desert places that would be uninhabitable if it were not for the date palm. It can grow where no other useful plant will grow.

The date palm is a long-lived tree. Date palms can still bear fruit when they are more than 100 years old.

The palm tree is a tree of the desert oasis. It sinks its taproot down deep to draw up the scarce water.

The travel writer H. V. Morton (who wrote in the 1930s) tells about visiting Siwa, a city of 5000 people, in an oasis in the desert of Egypt.

In Siwa, when Morton visited it, there were 600,000 date palms. They produced the finest dates in the world.

Their only industry was a date-packing factory.

They raised a variety of dates, some a rich gold, some pale yellow, and some reddish brown.

They made a drink from the sap of the palm trees.

The trunks of the trees provided their builders with wood.

The wood was also used for fuel.

Fences were made from palm fronds, and houses were roofed with them.

From the fiber of the tree the women made beautiful mats and baskets so closely woven that they would hold water.

Palm fibers were also used to make rope.

The hollowed-out trunks of the date trees were used as pipes to carry water to their canal system.

Their donkeys, which were remarkable for strength and size, were said to owe their perfect condition to a diet of dates.

The diet or the poor people in Siwa was almost entirely dates.

I looked up Siwa on the Internet encyclopedia and learned that that oasis is still famous for its fine dates. It is also a favorite tourist destination—a beautiful place to visit. I would like to go there.

So the beautiful and useful palm tree symbolizes the beauty and usefulness of believers who have their roots in God.

B. Next our psalmist compares God’s righteous people to a cedar of Lebanon: “The righteous flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.”

Lebanon cedars don’t grow in Iowa and are not kin to our red cedar or white cedar trees.

The Lebanon cedar has short needles, like a fir tree. The branches are layered. Its foliage is lacy. No tree is more beautiful or more majestic.

The Lebanese are so proud of their cedars that it is pictured on their flag and it is the logo of their national airline.

We saw a magnificent cedar of Lebanon in the cloister of Salisbury Cathedral in England. It was “flourishing in the courts of our God.”

While the palm tree is beautiful in its gracefulness, the cedar of Lebanon is magnificent in its majesty.

The massive trunk of a Lebanon cedar may be 8 feet in diameter. It can grow to 130 feet tall.

The cedar of Lebanon is also useful.

Its fragrant wood is the choicest material for many uses.

In ancient times, it was used for shipbuilding.

Its beautiful wood was used for the wooden parts of Solomon’s Temple and in David’s and Solomon’s palaces.

II. So by comparing God’s people to graceful palm trees and majestic cedars of Lebanon, the psalmist is saying that God’s righteous people are both beautiful and useful.

A. We believers may not be beautiful on the outside, but God looks on the inside, and he loves what he sees.

The writer of Psalm 90 prays: “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us…” God’s people are beautiful with the beauty of Jesus.

Sometimes we sing…

“Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.

All his wonderful passion and purity.

O thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine,

Till the beauty of Jesus is seen in me.”

B. We who are God’s people are to be a blessing to all around us.

Some trees are beautiful for their foliage, and some also bear good fruit. We believers are not to be all foliage—we are also to bear fruit. We are to bear the fruit of kindness and helpfulness.

And our kindness and goodness must not be limited to our families and loved ones.

Jesus said, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinner do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

“But love your enemies do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:32-36).

They say, “Charity begins at home”—but it shouldn’t end there.

III. We, who love the Lord, are planted in the House of the Lord; we flourish in the courts of our God.

A. The House of the Lord was, for the psalmist, the beautiful Temple at Jerusalem.

When the psalmists speak of dwelling in house of God, they are using that as a metaphor for living in constant communion with God.

That is the meaning in Psalm 23:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

In Psalm 27, the psalmist says:

One thing have I asked of the Lord,

that will I seek after;

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to behold the beauty of the Lord,

and to inquire in his Temple.

As the psalmist lives in fellowship with God, he lives in the house of the Lord. He beholds the beauty of the Lord. He inquires in his Temple.

B. In Ephesians we read that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

If we are living in communion with God—always aware of his presence in our lives—then, in our minds, we are already partly in heaven, even while we are still on earth.

CONCLUSION

Last comes my favorite part of the psalm:

“They still bring forth fruit in old age; they will stay fresh and green.”

How can you, how can I, still bear fruit in old age? How can we still bless other people when we are old?

We remember the advantages of youth—and maybe we grieve at what we’ve lost.

But I’ve been thinking recently about the advantages of being old. Here are some of the advantages of old age—if we are still walking with God.

1. When we are old, we can live without illusion. A lot of things we thought were important in our youth, we now know are not really important—wealth, prosperity, and popularity are not nearly as important as loving and being loved, or being useful to others.

2. As old people we understand the meaning of Christ’s words: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” And we look back, we take far more satisfaction from what have been able to give, than from whatever we received.

3. We are rich in friendships. Even though many of those who are dearest to us are now in Glory, their memory blesses us. And we know that we will meet them again.

4. We are getting ever closer to Glory. As we grow weak and are afflicted with pain, we long for Heaven—to be with Jesus, to hear his welcome, his “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

5. Because we have experienced disappointment, pain, and loss, we have the greatest opportunity of our life to bear witness to the reality of our faith, and the reality of Jesus in our life, and our expectation of Glory.

6. When we come closer to our heavenly homeland, our Christian witness becomes more credible, more powerful. Have you ever had the pleasure of hearing someone at the end of her life tell of her confidence in God—of her love for Jesus—of the peace God has given her as she prepares for her exit? I have.

Let’s pray that we’ll be like the palm tree and the cedar tree…that we will be always fresh and green…that we will still bear fruit in old age…that we can show that the Lord is upright, he is our rock of safety and there is no unrighteousness in him.

I read this little story in Guideposts. It is written by a man named Charles Axe. Here it is in his words:

“I understood the people’s reactions to me—the glancing looks, keeping their distance in silence. Like others in the waiting room, I was there to see the cardiologist because I had recently experienced a heart attack. But my orange prison jump suit, shackles, handcuffs, and two armed guards, didn’t exactly help me to fit in.

“Then an elderly woman walked in, smiled, and said, ‘God bless you. I hope you’re doing well.’

“I responded, ‘I’m fine.’ Suddenly, my anxious feelings were replaced with calm. ‘Thank you,’ I said.

“Afterwards, in the van heading back to the prison, I thought about how that one person looked beyond the outwards signs of what most consider a second-class citizen and saw a person—a person who, through surely one of God’s own people, was in many ways estranged from the human family. Maybe it was simply that she saw an opportunity to do good.”

Sometimes a small act of thoughtful compassion can make a significant difference in someone’s life. It did in the life of Charles Axe. It gave him hope when his life was at its lowest ebb.

Or the act of compassion could be costly, such as writing a $1000 check for someone in need—or forgiving and reconciling with someone who has grievously wronged you.

We are old, but we are not useless. We can still bear fruit in old age.

In this way, we show that the Lord is upright—he is our rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.