The Prosperous Man
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 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.
“in whatever he does, he prospers”
This the part of the verse that everyone wants to run to without understanding how we get to this point. The majority of “Christian” teaching directly ties “blessing” in verse 1 to “prospers” in verse 3… And in doing this we give the physical blessings of God as examples.
But in order to fully understand “Christian prosperity,” we must understand “blessing.” True, Godly blessing has nothing to do with temporal happiness. True, Godly blessing has everything to do with an eternal mindset for the glory of God. There is “prosperity” in suffering in the life of a believer if it is for the glory of God. There is “prosperity” in hardship in the life of a believer if it is for the glory of God.
The true disciple of Christ leans into the sovereignty of God in every element of his life, and therefore, because he is being fruitful by drinking from the Word of God, he prospers with spiritual blessing. This is not to say that God does not give physical blessings. He most certainly does. But the true believer — one who is soaking in the nourishment given to him by his Savior — understands that his real satisfaction and his overall goal of following after Jesus has nothing to do with physical blessings.
The final goal of our desire to drink from the Living Water is Jesus Himself. We should be totally and completely satisfied with Christ alone. It would be easy to say that because someone was a “good man,” karma made everything go right for him. It would be easy to say that because someone was so athletic, that he could literally pick up anything and be good at it… and call that “Prosperous” It would be easy to say that because someone was such a “likeable guy,” things just went right for him… But that is not the case.
The reason that we can look at the life of a true Ambassador for Christ and say with all confirmation that he is “Prosperous” is because his life produced FRUIT. And we know that the life of an Ambassador produced fruit, because he was a TREE planted by the rivers of water. And as this tree that was transplanted from the dry desert to the green oasis, the Ambassador DRINKS UP the Living Water that was provided for him. He DELIGHTS in the Word of God. He truly loves God’s Word. And when the Ambassador chooses to find complete satisfaction in Christ for his eternal joy, we KNOW and can understand that this Ambassador is a “Blessed Man of God.”
“Blessed is the man… who delights in the Law of the Lord… and yields much fruit… for his life will be counted as prosperous for the Kingdom of Heaven.”