PSALM ONE
"Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked,nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the Lord’s law. On his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper." — PSALM 1:1–3
Be like a tree planted by the streams of water
It is said that until fusion reactors kick in and green technologies can cover the energy needs of our expanding cities, the global economy remains tethered to oil and gas. We hope our dependence on fossil fuels will change, but for now, our world flies on kerosene and ships on diesel across oceans, rails, and roads.
Yet life itself is built neither on oil nor methane, but on water.
Today, space-faring nations visit Mars in a pretended-friendly space race, yet Mars remains a cold, nuclear wasteland. Despite its grim surface, dreamers still hope to find water hidden in subterranean ice or underground seas. Without water, life is unimaginable. Water is as irreplaceable as the air we breathe.
From time to time, across cultures, humanity has sought to master the water cycle. As traditions like the Hopi tell us, this present world is already the fourth civilization—a reminder that past ages may have held knowledge of climate regulation now lost to history. Today, modern science inches closer to that threshold, yet in practical efficacy, we remain nowhere near true mastery—let alone the terraforming of another planet, like Mars.
Lacking the power to control the weather, ancient societies turned to prayer, and in arid lands, they sought rainmakers.
More than eight hundred years before Christ, during the reign of King Ahab, Prophet Elijah declared a devastating drought upon Israel for its idolatry: “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”
For over two years the land withered, until God sent Elijah back to declare rain. In biblical tradition, prophets do not act on self-will; they act as Heaven's messengers, bringing either judgment for sin or blessings of fertility and life.
Centuries later, during the bloody era of King Alexander Jannaeus—who crucified hundreds and mass-murdered thousands of his political opponents—and under the strict, lethal court of Simeon ben Shetach, a mass murderer, himself, as well, the land faced another deadly drought.
Around seventy years before Jesus was born, the people turned not to the tyrant king or the harsh judge, but to Honi the Circle-Drawer, a righteous and pious scholar.
"Pray that rain may fall," the people begged.
"Go bring in the clay Passover ovens first, so they aren't softened and ruined by the rain," Honi answered. He prayed, but no rain fell.
How often do we pray and feel unheard?
As the Apostle James reminds us, As it is written by the Apostle James, that “ You pray, and don't receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it for your pleasures. (…) don't you know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ”
But James also wrote, that “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective”, just as it is reverberated in the Gospel of John, when the blind born man answered the Pharisees that “We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, God listens to him. ”
Listens means here, that God may grant prayers only to the righteous, while the Creator God hearkens to all, even to the wicked ones.
Determined, Honi drew a circle in the dirt, stood inside it, and declared to Heaven: "Master of the Universe, your children have turned to me because I am like a son in your household. I swear by Your great name that I will not move from this spot until You show mercy on Your children."
A gentle drizzle began to fall—just a few drops.
The people complained: "Is this tiny drizzle all your prayers can bring?"
Honi prayed again: "Not for such rain have I prayed, but for rain that will fill the cisterns and caverns!"
Then a tempest erupted, with heavy drops like fists pounding the earth.
Panicked, the people cried out again that the storm was too fierce.
Honi prayed a third time: "Not for a destructive storm have I prayed, but for a rain of goodwill, blessing, and graciousness."
The skies softened into a steady, gentle rain until the people had to take refuge on the Temple Mount. When the rain finally stopped, the rulers accused Honi of wizardry—a capital offense. Yet even Simeon ben Shetach admitted:
"Had you not been Honi, I would have condemned you to be stoned for blasphemy. But what can I do? You importune God like a son who importunes his father, and the father grants his wish."
A drought withers the tree; a flood rots its roots. Even the watering of a tree requires balance, measure, and blessing.
Some people, like Enoch and Moses and Elijah, are like a friend to God, and their request are granted. They are like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever they do, shall prosper.
May the Lord grant us balance in our spiritual lives.
May we be refreshed by water and the Spirit, rooted in His truth, producing fruit in every season.
And whatever we do in love for God, may it prosper.
Blessed be the eternal God, in the Son, by the Holy Spirit.
AMEN.
