My wife and I visited yet another church yesterday and we arrived 30 minutes early. Yikes! It was a rather large sanctuary, and we had our pick of seats and we decided to sit in the elevated seats towards the back. We always move towards the center of our aisle to allow those who come in late to access the seats near the aisle.
Thirty minutes is a long time to sit but we occupied our time by people watching. As people came streaming in a lady came over in the half-empty auditorium with hundreds of seats still available and put pieces of paper on the seats that were right next to me. I asked her if I needed to move because she was saving quite a few seats and she smiled and said no that there were seven widows that go to Sunday school together and then go to church and sit together in those exact spots every Sunday as they have done for many years. She reserved all she needed and then they started streaming in.
Egad, I ended up being the only living husband sitting with my wife amongst all these widows. Gulp! I told the lady sitting next to me that while I’m not superstitious, I felt slightly uncomfortable being the only living husband there. She laughed and told me that she was sure I was safe.
I asked her if she had children and she beamed yes and grandchildren and even one great-grandchild. The next thing I knew out came the photos. Ugh, personally I think baby pictures are overrated but must admit her latest great-grandchild was adorable. She started passing the photos to all her friends which of course stimulated more photos from them and incessant talk about their beautiful families.
The preacher preached his entire message on Psalm 1:1
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.
This verse seemed to characterize these ladies. They did not walk with the wicked nor sit amongst scoffers and unbelievers. Though they had all suffered loss they delighted in the law of the LORD. When the preacher displayed Psalm 1:1 on the big screen, I thought of the last part of that verse and that sweet old lady beaming over the photos of her family, “like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does” So doesn’t the entire world want to prosper? God tells us how in this powerful verse. They were not alone, the Lord was with them, and they delighted in His word by studying at home, attending Sunday school, church, and women’s Bible study during the week.
A good friend of mine recently told me his daughter was suffering from depression. From what I can gather, she is not close to the Lord and is questioning her faith in God in general. I advised that she needed to draw close to God to be happy. Maybe it is not cool in our secular culture for some to do as these widows, but those old gals were smiling, laughing, and having a good old time the entire service. And even though they were all widows they appeared to me as far from depression as one can get.
The preacher ended his sermon by asking everyone to turn to the last verse of Psalms and that verse combined with the first verse summed up the approach we all need to take to prosper in all that we do and find the peace of God for our rest.
Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!