A Ribband of Blue | Page 7

his work is done the great Worker will in His own
time and way bring to completion.
He does not expect to understand all about the grand work in which he
is privileged to take a blessed but infinitesimal part; he can afford to
await its completion, and can already by faith rejoice in the certainty
that the whole will be found in every respect worthy of the great
Designer and Executor. Well may his delight be in the Law of the
LORD, and well may he meditate in it day and night.

THE OUTCOME IN BLESSING.
We next proceed to notice the remarkable promises in the third verse of
this Psalm--one of the most remarkable and inclusive contained in the
Scriptures:--
"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, "That
bringeth forth his fruit in his season; "His leaf also shall not wither;
"And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
If we could offer to the ungodly a worldly plan which would ensure
their prospering in all that they undertake, how eagerly they would
embrace it! And yet when GOD Himself reveals an effectual plan to
His people how few avail themselves of it! Many fail on the negative
side and do not come clearly out of the world; many fail on the positive
side and allow other duties or indulgences to take the time that should
be given to reading and meditation on GOD'S Word. To some it is not
at all easy to secure time for the morning watch, but nothing can make
up for the loss of it. But is there not yet a third class of Christians
whose failure lies largely in their not embracing the promise and
claiming it by faith? In each of these three ways failure may come in
and covenant blessings may be lost.
Let us now consider what are the blessings, the manifold happinesses
which faith is to claim when the conditions are fulfilled.
I. Stability.--He shall be like a tree (not a mere annual plant), of steady
progressive growth and increasing fruitfulness. A tree planted, and
always to be found in its place, not blown about, the sport of
circumstances. The flowers may bloom and pass away, but the tree
abides.
II. Independent Supplies.--Planted by the rivers of water. The ordinary
supplies of rain and dew may fail: his deep and hidden supplies cannot.
He shall not be careful in the year of drought, and in the days of famine
he shall be satisfied. His supply is the living water--the SPIRIT of
GOD--the same yesterday, today, and forever: hence he depends on no
intermitting spring.

III. Seasonable Fruitfulness.--The careful student of Scripture will
notice the parallelism between the teaching of the First Psalm and that
of our LORD in the Gospel of John, where in the sixth chapter we are
taught that he who feeds on CHRIST abides in Him, and in the fifteenth
that he who abides brings forth much fruit. We feed upon CHRIST the
incarnate WORD through the written Word. So in this Psalm he who
delights in the Law of the LORD, and meditates upon it day and night,
brings forth his fruit in his season.
There is something beautiful in this. A word spoken in season how
good it is; how even a seasonable look will encourage or restrain,
reprove or comfort! The promise reminds one of those in John about
the living water thirsty ones drink, and are not only refreshed, but
become channels through which rivers of living water are always
flowing, so that other thirsty ones in their hour of need may find
seasonable refreshment. But the figure in the Psalm is not that of water
flowing through us as through a channel; but that of fruit, the very
outcome of our own transformed life--a life of union with CHRIST.
It is so gracious of our GOD not to work through us in a mere
mechanical way, but to make us branches of the True Vine, the very
organs by which Its fruit is produced. We are not, therefore,
independent workers, for there is a fundamental difference between
fruit and work. Work is the outcome of effort; fruit, of life. A bad man
may do good work, but a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. The result of
work is not reproductive, but fruit has its seed in itself. The workman
has to seek his material and his tools, and often to set himself with
painful perseverance to his task. The fruit of the Vine is the glad, free,
spontaneous outcome of the life within; and it forms and grows and
ripens in its proper season.
And what is the fruit which the believer should bear? May it not be
expressed by one word--Christliness? It is interesting to notice