Have you ever been reading a section of the Bible and started thinking, “Check! I am doing pretty good in that area!”?

That was me the other day while reading Psalm 1:1.

Let me illustrate.

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.” Psalm 1:1

 My thoughts after reading this verse:

I am so glad I’m not struggling with that. I don’t have any “wicked” people I hang out with. I’m not getting counsel from any horrible “sinners.” And I am most certainly not sharing any seats with rude and obnoxious “mockers!”

Just as I was about to give myself a big pat on the back, I felt the Lord speak to my heart:

But Rachel, it doesn’t always have to be “people” you hang around. It can be the things you watch, read, listen to, and meditate on. The things you think about. 

Oooh! Ouch! Guess I’m not doing as good as I thought I was. Quite the opposite actually. I really struggle with my thought life!

Every. Single. Day.

There are voices speaking to our minds all day long. And unfortunately, the majority of the voices speaking to us are lies. The world lies to us. Satan lies to us. And we lie to ourselves.

The only way to combat these lies is with the truth!

And Psalm 1:2 tells us exactly what we have to do.

“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:2

 We must saturate ourselves in God’s Word. Delight in His law. Meditate on His Word “day and night.”

And when we do that, Psalm 1:3 says we will be, “like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”

 I don’t always feel like a rooted and grounded tree. A lot of days I feel like my leaves are withered, my roots are shallow, and my fruit is rotten. I’m “like chaff that the wind blows away.” Psalm 1:4

 When I stand back and check my tree status, it’s almost always because I haven’t been meditating on God’s Word day and night. Instead, I’ve been delighting in my flesh, my sin, the world, or other ridiculous junk. I’ve started heeding other voices—voices that don’t align with the truth of God’s Word.

I am learning that it is not enough to just go to church and hear a message on Sunday. It’s not enough to dabble in God’s Word a few times a week. We will never be able to withstand the storms of life if our root system is not thoroughly and regularly steeped in the Word of God.

That’s why Matthew 6:11 says, “Give us today our daily bread.”

Not yearly. Not monthly. Not even weekly. His Word has to be our “daily” bread.

God’s Word is not something we can only take in small doses. We need to immerse ourselves in it. Allow our roots to grow deep down into the truth. Then as we read, meditate, and learn the truth, we will be able to activate the voice of truth and drown out all the other voices shouting at us.

Let’s stop allowing the lies of the world, Satan, and our own selves to push our trees over so easily. Let’s commit to get rooted and grounded. Dig deep into the soil of God’s Word every day and let His truth be the resounding voice that rules our lives. That is how we will prosper and bear good fruit!