Water for a Thirsty Soul

Psalm 1, verses 1 through 3. Let's read through

Psalms 1:1–3

the text, then we'll pray. How happy is the man

who does not follow the advice of the wicked

or take the path of sinners or join a group of

mockers. Instead, his delight is in the Lord's

instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.

He is like a tree planted beside streams of water

that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf

does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Let's

pray. God, we thank you for this beautiful word.

God, our world is full of grief and sorrow and

sadness, God. But what we desire is to be happy.

And so I pray, dear Lord, that we would find...

Happiness in Jesus Christ today. That we would

find happiness in your word God. That we would

follow the instruction that is set before us

today. And that we in our life would make the

right choice. So God I pray that you just be

with us. Free us from our worries and distractions

today. I pray that your Holy Spirit would just

help us to hear from you. And all for your glory.

In Jesus name I pray it. Amen. Life is full of

choices. Some serious, some not so serious, but

we make choices every day. If you ever go to

Baskin -Robbins, you got 32 choices. Now, there's

really only one right choice. There's 31 wrong

choices. There's one right choice, chocolate.

That's the right choice, and you got 31 wrong

choices. But we all got choices, even now. Just

yesterday, I think, college football season kicked

off. Hundreds, maybe, I don't know how many college

teams. This is a lot. You've got a choice. Which

team are you going to root for? Which team is

the best? Well, we all know the right choice.

It's LSU. I'm just joking. I'm just joking. Everybody

knows it's Ole Miss. Except for you Mississippi

State fans, right? There's lots of choices, and

we don't always agree on the choices, but we

are faced with choices all the time. But really

in life, we really only have two choices that

matter. There's only two options that we can

choose between. And that's, I think, what this

psalm is about in some way. It's about making

choices. What's the choice? Here's choice number

one. Are we going to follow the ways of the wicked?

Are we going to follow the paths of sinners?

That's choice number one. To live in disobedience

to what God calls us to? Or are we going to live

in obedience to God? Are we going to delight

in the Lord and His instructions and obey Him?

Those are our two choices. To simplify it even

further, are we going to do what is right or

are we going to do what is wrong? That's a choice

that we are faced with. multiple times every

day. That's a choice that matters. What kind

of ice cream you like, it doesn't matter. If

you don't like chocolate, I'll pray for you,

but it's okay. You're not going to hell for that.

But there are choices that do matter. There are

choices that do separate us from God. Are we

going to choose sin, or are we going to choose

the Lord? Are we going to choose what's right,

or are we going to choose what's wrong? What

does the first one say? How happy is the man

who does not follow the advice of the wicked

or take the path of sinners or join a group of

mockers. Okay? So you're happy if you don't make

the wrong choice. But what if you make the right

choice? You're happy. Here's the right choice.

Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction

and he meditates on it day and night. Now let

me ask you a question today. It's an easy one

for you to answer. Are you happy in life? Maybe

you are, and maybe you're not. If you're not

happy in life, then this verse may be the key

to all of your problems. Because happy is the

man or the woman who delights in the Lord and

follows His instructions. Now, if we're living

in obedience to God, there's a certain joy and

a certain happiness in our life. Even when things

are really tough, even when life is hard, there

can still be some happiness in our life if we

are living in obedience to God and delight in

His words and His instructions. If you're not

happy today, then I think the opposite of what

is stated is true. If you're not happy, it's

because you're walking and the ways of evil.

That is, you're making the wrong choices. You're

choosing things that do not bring you joy. There's

a lot of things that we think bring us joy, that

we think will make us happy. And you know it.

If we had time, I could ask everybody in there,

has there ever been something you thought would

make you happy, and you got it, and it didn't

make you happy? We probably all have things like

that. We think, okay, if I just get this new

house, I'm going to be happy. If I just get this

cool new car, I'm going to be happy. If I get

this new gun, or if I get this new boat, or if

I get this new technology, or if I get married,

or if I have a kid, or if I, whatever. The list

goes on and on and on, and not every one of those

things I mentioned, none of them are bad in and

of themselves. But the problem is, is that we

think that those things are going to make us

happy. And so we continue to make wrong choices,

bad choices in all the other areas, thinking

that if we just have the next thing, it's going

to make us happy. But that's not where our joy

comes from. Happy is the man or woman who trusts

in the Lord. That's the right choice. So God

gives us choices all the time. God's word says,

hey, here's some things that are right and good

for you to do. And here's some things that are

not good for you to do. You got the choice. If

you make the right choice in the ways of God,

you're going to be happy. If you're not happy

today, then praise the Lord that we're here to

look at this psalm. Because maybe the source

of our unhappiness comes from our bad choices

of living in sin. But there's good news today.

There can be joy and happiness in your life through

Jesus Christ if we would choose Him and choose

to live in obedience to what God says. So we

have to look at our life. Okay, what are some

bad choices that I'm making? Okay, I'm doing

something I shouldn't be doing. My attitude's

not right. I'm thinking in ways that I shouldn't

think. I'm just involved in stuff that I shouldn't

be involved in. And we keep making those choices.

Maybe today's a good time for you to reflect.

Maybe the Lord brought you here for that purpose

because it's already on your heart and you feel

that burden. And maybe today you need to say,

you know what, I'm not going to make that choice

anymore. I've made this choice time and time

again. And we make these bad choices and we say,

I just don't understand why I don't feel good

anymore. I don't understand why I'm always having

a bad attitude. I don't understand why I'm always

stressed. I don't understand. Well, maybe the

problem is that we're making sinful choices.

That affects us physically, emotionally, spiritually.

It has an effect on us. So we have a choice today.

We can do what is right and live in obedience

to God, or we do what is evil. It's going to

cause heartache and pain and suffering in our

life. So the choice is set before us. He calls

us, the psalmist does here, to seek. The Lord.

What does he say at the end of verse 2? He says,

Instead, his delight is in the Lord's instruction,

and he meditates on it night and day. Okay, so

the happy person is delighted in the Lord's instruction.

For us, where do we get that from? In the Word

of God. How happy is the one who delights in

the Word of God and meditates on it night and

day. Now, when we talk about meditate, I'm not

talking about sitting with your legs crossed

going, That's not what I'm talking about. Now,

there are people in the world that follow all

kind of meditation and do all kind of crazy stuff.

To meditate simply means just to stop and to

pause and to think about the Word of God. Now,

we need to be in the Word of God. You need to

read the Word of God. You need to get in the

habit of reading the Word of God. I understand

that we don't want to just do anything just for

the sake of doing it. Just say, oh, I read God's

Word today. Let me check that off. But we need

to get in the habit, and even if we get into

the habit for the wrong reason of just checking

the box, maybe even still we can hear from the

Word of God. We need to be in the habit of reading

God's Word. We need to want to hear God's Word

and to listen to God's Word, but we want to meditate

on God's Word. God's Word does not do us any

good if we just read words on a page and go on

about our business. It doesn't do us any good

if we hear a sermon and we hear God's Word and

we don't pay any attention to it. We need to

meditate on what we read. It's not a competition.

It's not like, oh, I've got to read 20 pages

in my Bible today. It'd be better to read one

verse and meditate on it for 20 minutes than

to read 20 verses and not think about it. And

so we need to meditate on the Word of God. You

need to pray for you to read the Word of God.

Say, God, I need you to help me to understand

this. Some scriptures are tough. There's some

scriptures that make us think a little bit. There's

some scriptures that we say, I don't know what

that means. There's other scriptures we read

them and they pierce to our heart instantly.

And we say, whoa, that's talking about me. If

that ever happens, that's a good time to meditate.

That's a good time to stop. And say, God, wow,

your word is talking about me right here. And

just stop and think about what that word means

and how it applies to your life. Maybe it's a

call to repentance. Maybe it's a call to rejoice.

Whatever it may be, God's word speaks to us in

a variety of different ways. But so many times

we are too busy to stop and listen to it. But

we need to take a moment. in our life, maybe

multiple moments throughout our day, that we

stop and we read the Word of God and we think

about the Word of God. And we've got to set aside

a time to do that because if we don't make time

for that, then we won't meditate on it. Because

as soon as we get through reading it, the next

thing is coming up. Oh, I've got to get the kids

to practice. Oh, I've got something at the church.

Oh, I've got something at work. Oh, I've got

to do this. Oh, I've got a water pipe busted

at the house. Whatever. There's always something.

As soon as we read it, the devil is always there

to yank that word away from us so that we don't

grow in it. But God's desire is that we meditate

on his word and think about it and just soak

it up and live by it and live on it. Verse 3.

He is like a tree planted beside streams of water

that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf

does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. So

this is what we're compared to in the psalm.

The godly man or the godly woman is like a tree

that's got plenty of water. There is one thing

that everything in the whole world needs to survive.

It's water. You have got to have water. If you're

a human, you go three days without it, you're

going to be in bad shape. You're not going to

make it very long. We have to have water to be

sustained. And this idea and this language, this

imagery, it's not just here but throughout the

scripture that is symbolic language that we are

like a tree. And we need to be soaking up the

word of God, the presence of God, the love of

God, the grace of God. God needs to be in our

life that we're soaking that up because that's

what's going to sustain us. Now, I was doing

some research this week about trees and their

need for water. I was amazed at how much water

a tree needs. I was also amazed at how much water

falls on the ground. Did you know this? That

if you have an acre of land and one inch of rain

falls on that acre of land, did you know that

that is 27 ,154 gallons of water? Did you know

that? That's a lot of water from one inch of

rain. Did you know that in one square mile, that

if an inch of rain falls, you're not going to

believe how much water falls. 17 .4 million gallons

of water from one inch of rain. That water falls

from heaven. It is given to us from God, and

it hits the ground, and it soaks into the ground,

and it goes deep into the ground, and it is necessary

for everything to be sustained, even the trees

that we see. Now, you may say to yourself, that's

a lot of water. How could anything ever drink

that much water? Well, I'm going to tell you

how. I'm going to tell you about some trees that

you may know. This is incredible information.

This will be on the test, so you all remember

this. All right, here's some facts for you all.

The mesquite tree. Now, I don't know if we have

those around here or not. Mesquite tree, a good,

healthy, mature mesquite tree can soak up 25

gallons of water per day. That's a lot of water

for a tree, 25 gallons a day. A poplar tree can

soak up 50 gallons of water a day. An oak tree

can soak up 100 gallons of water per day. Pine

tree, 150 gallons of water a day. Those big giant

sequoias, some of y 'all have probably seen those

before. They can soak up... 500 gallons of water

in a day. And listen to this. A cypress tree

can soak up 880 gallons of water in a day. And

our land, our earth, is full of these trees and

many more. And to make a good and healthy tree

requires a lot of water. But what happens when

there's not a lot of water? There's a lot of

water in the ground. It takes a little while

to soak up 17 .4 million gallons in a square

mile. But you go for a while without rain. A

week, in a month, two months. Trees are pretty

resilient. They can hold up for a while, but

as many of you probably remember, a few summers

ago, we had a really bad drought. We went a long

time without rain. And what do we see all around

now? Why? Because they did not have a source

of water. But some survived. Some trees survived.

And do you know why they survived? Because they

had a root system that reached far enough into

the earth that they could reach the source of

water and the source of life. The psalmist says

that we... Who trust in the Lord are like a tree

who is firmly planted with its roots right in

the source of living water. And the scripture

says that Jesus is that source of living water.

John chapter 7 verses 37 and 38 says, On the

John 7:37

last and most important day of the festival,

Jesus stood up and cried out, If anyone is thirsty,

he should come to me. and drink. The one who

believes in me, as the scripture has said, will

have streams of living water flow from deep within

him. If we do not have the Lord in our life,

we are in trouble. We are not going to be a healthy

tree. We are going to be a tree that is going

to die. We are going to be a tree that does not

produce fruit. The one who trusts in the Lord

is like a tree who produces fruit. But what did

Jesus say in the New Testament? He said of the

tree that does not produce fruit, it should be

chopped down and thrown into the fire. So what

kind of fruit are you producing today? Are you

rooted in the Lord? Are you deeply rooted in

the Lord? Because there are going to be some

droughts that are going to come in your life.

There are going to be some seasons that are going

to be dry. But look, you can look up online.

This is true. There are trees in the middle of

the desert. There won't be nothing else around.

And every once in a while, you'll see a tree

that is thriving in the middle of the desert.

And do you know why? Because it's got roots that

are deeply ingrained into the middle of the earth

where it can be sustained by water that flows

from within. And so it will be for you and I.

That we are to be trees that grow and produce

fruit. That we are to be those who meditate on

the Lord. That we are to be those who are well

rooted in the Lord. That we have made the right

choice in our life. That we have chosen Jesus

Christ. Some of you are thirsty today. You may

not know it. You may have been living this life

with all of its struggles and its strains and

its difficulties. And you've just been trying

to find happiness in all the ways of the world.

And you have failed. But I want to tell you today,

your soul is thirsty for Jesus Christ. You may

not know it. You may be dying right now. You

may be in the middle of a drought in your life,

but I want to tell you today that Jesus Christ

has died on a cross for you so that you can come

and drink from Him, the source of our living

water, so that you can be well -rooted in Him

today. Are you well -rooted in the Lord today?

Maybe you know Jesus Christ, but maybe you hadn't

been meditating on His Word and living by it.

Maybe you've been making the wrong choices. Maybe

you're not happy today because you've been choosing

sin, and maybe today you need to choose Jesus

Christ. For happy is the one who delights in

the Lord's instruction. Do you delight in the

Lord's instruction? Does God's word mean anything

to you? Is it just something you come once a

week to church just to hear me read it so you

can mark it off your list and go on? Or is God's

word something that you desire and you hope for

and you just reach down, you want to be well

-rooted in it so you can get all the nutrients

out of it so you can thrive and be one who produces

good fruit? If we're looking for happiness in

our life today, it can only be found in Jesus

Christ. What are you rooted in today? Maybe today

it's time to make better choices. Maybe you've

been choosing the world. Maybe today it's time

to choose Jesus. Maybe you've been choosing sin.

Today it's time to choose the Son of God. Maybe

today you're in the midst of a drought in your

life. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, I

think the quickest way for us to get back healthy

again It's to be in the Word of God. And there

we find the news that we need, that the source

of our life, that the source of our strength

comes through Jesus Christ. There's living water

available to us today. And praise the Lord, it's

enough that if every one of us are rooted, that

it's enough that we couldn't soak it all up in

a lifetime if we tried to. You have a choice

to make today. I hope you choose Jesus. Let's

pray. God, we come to you today. We thank you

for your good word. God, we want to be happy

today. Maybe we've been going about that in all

the wrong ways, but I pray today that we would

find happiness in Jesus Christ, that we would

be men and women that delight in your word today

and meditate on it. God, I pray that we would

be a tree that is rooted. in Jesus Christ today.

Maybe there are some that do not know Jesus.

I pray today that they would repent of their

sins, that if they've chosen the world their

whole life, that today that they would choose

Jesus. Maybe there are some here today, dear

Lord, and they've chosen Jesus, but they're in

a dry season, God, and it may be because of some

of the choices they made. It may be that they're

just not plugged into the source, dear Lord.

It may not be producing much fruit, but God,

You don't want us to stay in that shape. So I

pray today, God, that we would reach down, that

we would seek your word, that we would seek the

living water that comes through Jesus Christ,

that we would be well -rooted and sustained and

be a brother and sister in Christ that produces

fruit that is worthy of repentance, dear Lord.

And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.