In our side yard a tree has survived ice storms, heavy snows, and howling winds. Several times in the decades we’ve lived here, I thought it would fall. Now I expect it to long outlast me. I’ve taken pictures of my preschool daughters in that tree, and of their children, my grandsons. It has lost many thick limbs, but others have grown, and harsh circumstances have made it stronger. In contrast, many protected and untested trees have long since fallen.

This tree has another secret. It lies at the lower part of our property, where the water sinks deep into the soil. This tree has all the nourishment it needs.

Psalm 1 says the one who continually meditates on God’s Word “is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither” (v. 3, CSB). Trees don’t choose where to place themselves, but we do. We determine what our sources of nourishment will be, which in turn determine whether we bear fruit or wither.

“How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2, CSB). Happiness is found in what this person does not do (hang out with the wrong people and take the wrong advice) and also in what he does do (meditate on God’s Word). The key to happiness, it suggests, is allowing the right people to influence our thoughts and actions. If it’s God and His Word, we’ll find happiness; if it’s mockers of God and His Word, we’ll find unhappiness.

The Jerusalem Bible renders these verses, “Happy the man who never follows the advice of the wicked . . . but finds his pleasure in the Law of Yahweh” (emphasis added). Countless Christians believe that Bible reading is their duty—something holy people do. What many don’t understand is exactly what the passage really tells us: that meditating on God’s Word can and should delight us, infusing us with heartfelt happiness. Superficial holiness can never produce true happiness. True holiness always manifests itself in authentic happiness.

Matthew Henry commented, “When the psalmist undertakes to describe a blessed man, he describes a good man; for, after all, those only are happy, truly happy, that are holy, truly holy; . . . goodness and holiness are not only the way to happiness (Revelation 22:14), but happiness itself.”

We all meditate, and we’re all shaped by the object of our meditation. We take our attitudinal and behavioral cues from what we focus on. Will we be shaped by sitcoms, social media, and the internet, or will we be shaped by Isaiah, Luke, A. W. Tozer, and Charles Haddon Spurgeon? It depends on how we choose to spend our time.

The key to joy-filled spirituality is the development of little habits, such as Bible reading and memorization and prayer. Day after day, we become the kind of person who grows and endures rather than withers and dies. We begin to understand that what we most want can be found through contemplating God and His goodness, as revealed in His Word.

Lord, take us deep into your Word. Let us not be content with empty entertainment and diversions. Your Word makes us alive, energizes us, strengthens and sustains us, and comforts us with truth. It confronts sin in our lives, encourages our obedience, and gives us delight in you. Who but the devil and sin itself would distract us from such treasure? Change our habits of leisure, Lord. Prompt us to abandon entertainment that scorns and violates your Word, to listen to music that celebrates your Word, and to embrace great Scripture-saturated books that lead us to you and your Word. Remind us that your Word is the source of correction, training, eternal perspective, and joyful rest from weariness and sorrow.

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