A Little Bit Minty

The love and faithfulness of the Lord are to be proclaimed and celebrated from when we wake at dawn to when we sleep at night. Our worship responds to the Lord’s greatness, impressive work and superior knowledge.

The thing I find helpful about this is that it expresses truths about God. The joy is not conjured from within but is rooted in the person and work of the Lord. My feelings change day by day and hour by hour. The Lord does not change. Better that I sing his melody in his key than hum my own dissonant tune. 

Transcript

Day 92

My Psalm for today is number 92.

It starts with some positive affirmations. The love and faithfulness of the Lord are to be proclaimed and celebrated from when we wake at dawn to when we sleep at night. Our worship responds to the Lord’s greatness, impressive work and superior knowledge.

“What a beautiful thing, GOD, to give thanks, to sing an anthem to you, the High God! To announce your love each daybreak, sing your faithful presence all through the night, Accompanied by dulcimer and harp, the full-bodied music of strings. You made me so happy, GOD I saw your work and I shouted for joy. How magnificent your work, GOD! How profound your thoughts!” (92:1-5 MSG)

The thing I find helpful about this is that it expresses truths about God. The joy is not conjured from within but is rooted in the person and work of the Lord. My feelings change day by day and hour by hour. The Lord does not change. Better that I sing his melody in his key than hum my own dissonant tune. 

This psalm is special to me more because of the end that the beginning. This is because the end contains what became know in TSCF as “the Minty verse”. MINTY was the internship we started in New Zealand in 2005. It stands for M INTernship Year and is a year of training and student ministry preparing for the whole of life. Andy Shudall who directed the programme from it’s inception picked these verses because they talk about being fresh and green (which is kind of minty!) but also because of the vision of long term growth and impact.

 “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,” (92:12-14)

Two trees are mentioned as an analogy for the thriving and maturing of those who live by faith and belong to the Lord. 

Palm trees can survive in marginal conditions with little water and high salinity or acidity in the soil. Palm trees are remarkable for their stature growing tall and straight. They cope well with strong winds and bend rather than break in storms. They are a commonly found tree and often mark an oasis in the desert. It is said that their fruit becomes sweeter with age

The palm tree appears throughout the Bible from Moses arriving at the springs at Elim to the great multitude from every nation waving palm branches in Revelation.  The other tree mentioned here is the Cedar. This tree too features through scripture often as an example of strength and majesty.

While palms are common, Cedars are more rare. The Cedars of Lebanon are one of the most prized trees in history. While palms live for 100 years they can live to be well over 1000. Cedar trees symbolise strength, longevity and resilience.

Cedars are also able to survive harsh conditions.

Cedars have deep roots, sometimes as deep as they are tall. Hosea uses the roots of the tree as an example of depth. He relates the promised restoration of God’s people to the new growth, fragrance and shade of the Cedar.

“Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots; his young shoots will grow. His splendour will be like an olive tree, his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon. People will dwell again in his shade…” (14:5b-7a)

The psalmist places the trees he is singing of in the courts of God. They are planted in the house of the Lord so their roots are deep in him. This is the key to their vigour and long term growth. What we tap into for our sustenance, refreshment and energy will have a direct impact on our growth.

A later psalm mentions these impressive trees again. The word translated as well watered can also be translated as full of sap.

“The trees of the Lord are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.” (104:16) 

Or “The trees of the Lord are full of sap”

The sap of the Cedars of Lebanon  has interesting qualities. If the trunk of the tree is slashed or the bark gashed the sap creates a protective layer that hardens over time and protects the tree from fungus or disease.

The psalmist also says that those rooted in the Lord will bear fruit in old age. Cedars take longer to fruit but continue to do so long after other trees have exhausted their capacity. Cedars do not typically produce cones until they are 40 - 50 years old. We live in a culture where a persons usefulness is considered to diminish with age. 

The Bible is clear that there is no stage in life where you have passed your usefulness and no sell by date on your effectiveness. Cedars become more impressive with age. When they are younger they resemble Christmas trees but after they reach about 100 they undergo a transformation. Their trunks grow thicker and they begin to spread out with branches growing parallel to the ground. Our health may fail, our friends die and our energy diminish as we get older but that does not mean our opportunities are over. The final verse of the psalm describes those who bear fruit in old age as proclaiming;

“The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him .”

Some of the very best times I have enjoyed in student ministry have been listening to folks who are advanced in years talking to staff and students about their life journey. Their testimony of the Lord being true, dependable and good has substance through the weight of experience and plants seeds in younger hearts and minds. The scars they bear testify to the healing of the Lord and how the spirit like sap covers our wounds.There is a realism in maturity which if we can avoid cynicism grows fresh hope and renewed vigour.

Even beyond its life lessons, the Cedar is useful in death, The timber is strong and naturally resistant to rot. It was the main construction material used in the temple, which coincidentally was extensively decorated with palm wood. A number of older folks in the InterVarsity family have recently gone to glory. Many of them have done significant things in their lives but the most striking aspect of their eulogies is that they speak less of their personal achievements and more of the faithfulness of God.

 The psalm is saying that longevity in faith and life long impact are entirely possible. It is not just a commentary on longevity but on vitality. This fruitfulness in old age further testifies to the love and faithfulness of the Lord underlined at the start of the psalm. A well tended, protected and watered tree does not grow up overnight. There may be magic beans for beanstalks but not for cedar trees. No one who plants a cedar tree sees it reach maturity. God makes a longer term commitment in life and through death. These trees have seen the rise and fall of empires. They are a visible expression of growth over time, faithfulness through the generations and the blessings of maturity. The height of the trees testifies to the uprightness of the Lord. 

Andy chose the verse well because our vision throughout IFES is to see men and women encouraged in life long discipleship and equipped to have an enduring impact in whatever area of life and work  God calls them into.

Today I am grateful for Andy who led Minty in the beginning and Chris Hay who leads it now and for many others who have invested in seedlings that are still growing. 

Today I am thankful for the vigour of those former staff and interns who continue to bear fruit around the world.

I am challenged by those who have gone before pray that as we go on we may be fresh and green in the days that we are given and that we might all be a little bit minty.