Psalms 92:1-15: a reflection

1It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, Most High, 2to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night, 3with the ten-stringed lute, with the harp, and with the melody of the lyre. 4For you, LORD, have made me glad through your work. I will triumph in the works of your hands. 5How great are your works, LORD! Your thoughts are very deep. 6A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this: 7though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever. 8But you, LORD, are on high forever more. 9For behold, your enemies, LORD, for behold, your enemies shall perish. All the evildoers will be scattered. 10But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. I am anointed with fresh oil. 11My eye has also seen my enemies. My ears have heard of the wicked enemies who rise up against me. 12The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13They are planted in the LORD’s house. They will flourish in our God’s courts. 14They will still produce fruit in old age. They will be full of sap and green, 15to show that the LORD is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Psalm 92 begins by declaring how good it is to give thanks to the LORD and to proclaim his love in the morning and his faithfulness by night. But its most memorable image comes near the end, a picture of the life of the righteous: The righteous will flourish like the palm tree; he will grow like a cedar in 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 be full of sap and green.

Notice the picture of an enduring, fruitful life: those planted in the house of the LORD flourish, and keep bearing fruit even in old age, still full of life and green. This is not the flourishing of the wicked, which the psalm says springs up like grass only to be destroyed; it is the deep-rooted, lasting fruitfulness of a life rooted in God. Such a life does not wither with the years but keeps bearing fruit to the end, drawing its life from God in whose house it is planted.

That is a hope worth holding, especially as the years pass. The world's vigor fades with age, and we may fear becoming dry, spent, and fruitless as we grow old. But the psalm promises that a life rooted in God stays green; the righteous still bear fruit in old age, full of sap. The secret is where we are planted: in the house of the LORD, drawing life from him. Root your life deeply in God, in his house and his presence, and you need not fear a fruitless old age. Those planted in the LORD flourish and bear fruit to the end. Draw your life from him, and stay green and fruitful, whatever your years.

Lord, your psalm promises that the righteous, planted in the house of the LORD, flourish like the palm and the cedar, and still bear fruit in old age, full of sap and green. Thank you for that hope of an enduring, fruitful life. The world's vigor fades with age, and I may fear becoming dry, spent, and fruitless as I grow old. But you promise that a life rooted in you stays green, still bearing fruit to the end. Help me root my life deeply in you, in your house and your presence, drawing my life from you, so that I need not fear a fruitless old age. Keep me planted in you, and bearing fruit to the end, whatever my years. Let me not wither, but stay green and fruitful, drawing my life from you, and let my life show that you are upright, my rock, in whom there is no unrighteousness.