Will Your Flourishing Last?

Scripture — Psalm 92:5-8 (NRSV)

How great are your works, LORD,
how profound your thoughts!
Senseless people do not know,
fools do not understand,
that though the wicked spring up like grass
and all evildoers flourish,
they will be destroyed forever.
But you, LORD, are forever exalted.

Devotion

If you were to visit Southern California, you’d be impressed by the San Gabriel Mountains immediately to the north of populated areas. (If you ever watch the Rose Parade on television, you’ve seen these mountains. And I’m sorry to say, you may also have seen them on the news during recent fires.) The San Gabriels rise steeply, having been formed by the shifting of the earth millions of years ago.

For most of the year, the local mountains are gray-brown in color, with occasional splotches of green from trees and bushes that can endure the hot Southern California summers. In the bottom of steep canyons cut by millennia of erosion, you can even find lush oases and meandering creeks. But, for the most part, the San Gabriels look sadly brown, especially compared to the verdant, tree-covered mountains in other parts of the country.

I say “for the most part” because things are different in and around March. As winter rains water the San Gabriels, all of a sudden, their barren brown turns into vibrant green. Mainly, this is from the native grasses that cover the mountains. For much of the year, they look dead. But, in fact, they’re only sleeping. With a good dousing of rain, those grasses awaken and become surprisingly green. (A couple of months after the Eaton Fire, even some of the burned areas began to be covered by resurrected native grasses. I expect the mountains will be fully green for several weeks next year.)

I am especially fond of our local mountains when they are green. Sometimes they’re even topped with white snow. Not quite Switzerland, but striking, nevertheless. Yet the green glory doesn’t last. Before long, the grasses die and our mountains return to their usual state of gray-brown. Yes, for a time our mountains flourish, but their flourishing doesn’t last.

The same could be said of certain kinds of human flourishing. Psalm 92 bears witness to this truth. As we have seen in recent Life for Leaders devotions, this psalm offers the promise of flourishing for those who are righteous. Their fruitfulness lasts throughout their lifetimes, even “in old age.” This is good news, to be sure.

But it comes on the heels of some bad news about flourishing. If we look back a few verses in Psalm 92, we find a passage that begins by praising the greatness of God’s works (92:5). God’s works and, indeed, God “are forever exalted” (92:8). But this is not the case with “senseless people,” the “fools who don’t understand” how certain kinds of flourishing are temporary. In particular, they fail to grasp “that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever” (92:7), in contrast with the Lord who endures forever and is “forever exalted” (92:8).

The Hebrew original behind verse 7 uses two verbs with basically the same meaning. “Flourish” in verse 7 translates the Hebrew verb tzutz, which means “blossom, flower, shine.” “Spring up” translates the verb parach, which means “bud, flower, sprout.” Parach is the verb used in verses 12 and 13, where it is rendered as “flourish” (“the righteous flourish” and “they will flourish”). Thus, we see that there are different kinds or qualities of flourishing. In verse 7, there is temporary flourishing, like grass on the San Gabriels. In verses 12 and 13, there is lasting flourishing, like the deodar cedars of Christmas Tree Lane of Altadena.

In 1883, John Woodbury planted 150 deodar cedars along Santa Rosa Avenue in what is now Altadena. In time, they grew to over 100 feet tall. Beginning in 1920, those trees have been decorated with Christmas lights. Every December, thousands of people visit what is now called Christmas Tree Lane, either walking or driving slowly along the “Lane” to enjoy the colorful lights. (Yes, I’ve done this several times!)

When the Eaton Fire devastated Altadena last January, it destroyed 13 homes on Santa Rosa Avenue in the Christmas Tree Lane area. But all the trees survived, despite the blazing, wind-blown embers flying through the air. Unlike the local grasses that were quickly consumed, the deodar cedars survived. They will continue to flourish, especially around Christmastime when they are covered with multicolored lights. Local residents are committed to keeping the Christmas Tree Lane tradition alive. (Decorating the trees takes 100 volunteers working ten weeks to get more than 10,000 lights high up into the trees.)

As it is with the grasses of the San Gabriels and the deodar cedars of Christmas Tree Lane, so it is with us. We can flourish for a season, only to see our flourishing subside. Or we can flourish for a lifetime, bearing fruit in all seasons of life, even “in old age” (92:14).

What will make the difference? Psalm 92 offers two answers to that question. First, those whose flourishing dries up are the “wicked” and “evildoers.” If our fruitfulness is a result of sinful living, then it is only temporary. Second, as we have seen before in our devotional study of Psalm 92, the key to real, sustained flourishing is righteousness, that is, being rightly related to God and God’s creation. A right relationship with God helps us be a flourishing tree whose roots grow deeply into the soil of God’s presence and grace.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the High Calling archive, hosted by the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Listen to Your Elders.