Read Psalm 92:10-15. 10But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil. 11My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants. 12The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. 14They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, 15to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
The psalmist is doing what every Christian can and should do – making the Lord’s victory his or her own. The Lord won and is on high forever (v. 8), his enemies are all defeated (v.9). What does this mean for the psalmist? His horn is exalted; his enemies are doomed. He hasn’t just survived. He will thrive. Flourishing like the palm and cedar. Flourishing in the courts of our God. Bearing fruit into old age, declaring the righteousness of the Lord to all who will listen.
Does this sound anything like your life?
It can and should in Christ. His victory is yours. His exaltation is yours. His anointing oil (the Spirit) is yours. His flourishing is yours. His fruitfulness is yours. His righteousness is yours. All that is his in now yours.
To live is Christ is to not earthly prosperity, but it is a position of honor in the presence of God. Christian, survival is not God’s plan for your life. Jesus didn’t conquer sin and death for you to merely get by, coasting until his return. No, his plan is for you to thrive with the dignity of the palm and the cedar, the fruitfulness of his garden. As the Apostle Paul says, our lives are to be lived to the praise of his glorious grace in Christ (Eph. 1:12).
Will you choose to display Christ’s glorious grace today? What might you need to confess and repent in order for your life to take on this position?
You: Are you surviving or thriving?
You in Christ: How is union with Christ flourishing, not just survival or coasting?
Christ in you: Specifically, how can your life display the glorious grace of God today?
Prayer. Father, I don’t always feel like I am flourishing in you, but with Christ in me I know that I am. Amen.
To Live is Christ 