Claire Black: This is True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. I’m Claire Black. Together, we’ll explore God’s Truth for us, one drive at a time! Buckle up. You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!
True Girl, have you joined us for the Holy Girl Walk yet? It’s simple: walk while you memorize Scripture–specifically for this challenge, Psalm 1. We’re walking November 1–12, but you can take a Holy Girl Walk anytime you want!
Right now, Dannah Gresh and Suzy Weibel are walking through the towering redwoods of Northern California, where they just arrived at Big Tree—an ancient coast redwood that’s been standing for about 1,500 years! And get this: if you cut it down—which we would NEVER do!—it would stretch almost from one end of a football field to the other. No wonder it’s called the Big Tree.
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Claire Black: This is True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. I’m Claire Black. Together, we’ll explore God’s Truth for us, one drive at a time! Buckle up. You’re about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!
True Girl, have you joined us for the Holy Girl Walk yet? It’s simple: walk while you memorize Scripture–specifically for this challenge, Psalm 1. We’re walking November 1–12, but you can take a Holy Girl Walk anytime you want!
Right now, Dannah Gresh and Suzy Weibel are walking through the towering redwoods of Northern California, where they just arrived at Big Tree—an ancient coast redwood that’s been standing for about 1,500 years! And get this: if you cut it down—which we would NEVER do!—it would stretch almost from one end of a football field to the other. No wonder it’s called the Big Tree.
Last time, we discovered something interesting in the first verse of Psalm 1: walk, stand, sit. The voices you start walking with can become the voices you stop and listen to—and eventually the voices you settle in with. But instead, Psalm 1 invites us to delight in God’s Word and meditate on it day and night. Meditate. Is that just another thing to add to your list?
Well, sometimes Christianity might feel like one great big list of: DO THIS. DON’T DO THAT. READ YOUR BIBLE. OBEY. TRY HARDER!
But Dannah discovered something while meditating on Psalm 1 that changes everything about the way we follow Jesus in our walk of life. Let’s get back to Dannah and Suzy beneath the Big Tree and find out what she learned!
Suzy Weibel: You know what I just noticed? There’s a fence all the way around Big Tree.
Dannah Gresh: Sure is, Swooze!
Suzy: And signs—lots of signs! “Don’t light a fire.” “Don’t touch the tree.” “Don’t climb over the fence.” “Do stay on the trail!”
Dannah: Well, at fifteen hundred years old, we want to keep this guy around.
Suzy: But truthfully Dannah, that’s how some people read Psalm 1. “Don’t walk there. Don’t stand there. Don’t sit there. Do delight in God’s Word. Do meditate day and night.” I think it can feel like a lot of work.
Dannah: Oh, Girl! I have to tell you what I discovered in my studies.
Suzy: What?
Dannah: We have this tendency to put ourselves into Psalm 1. I’m supposed to be the blessed person. I need to walk right. Stand right. Sit right. Meditate day and night.
Like you said, it can feel like a lot of work . . . unless we find delight, of course.
But more than that, for roughly the first fifteen hundred years of Christianity, Christians commonly read Psalm 1 Christologically.
Suzy: Christo-what? Okay, wait. I know this. Ology is the study of something. Christ study?
Dannah: Yeah.
Christological just means looking for Christ in the Scriptures or studying Him in the Bible.
And for the first fifteen hundred years after Jesus died and rose for us, well, Christians looked at the “blessed man” in Psalm 1 and saw Jesus.
Suzy: Interesting.
Dannah: I mean, who never walks in the advice of the wicked? Who never stands around with sinners? Who never sits down to join mockers?
Suzy: Good point.
Dannah: And who delights in God’s Word day and night without stopping?
Suzy: Not me.
Dannah: Or me.
Suzy: So, I see the point. Only Jesus could really be the one this psalm is about.
But the NLT reads: “Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked.”
Dannah: Yes, lots of modern versions have translations that make it easy to make this about us. But the original text says “Blessed is the man.” One man.
Suzy: I see. That makes it easier to understand as Jesus.
Dannah: That changed everything for me. Jesus does these things! Yes, Psalm 1 describes the life I want to live—but I can only live it in Christ, through Christ, because of Christ.
And Suzy, that feels so good.
Suzy: How so?
Dannah: Because ultimately, Psalm 1 isn't about how amazing I can be at following all the rules. It’s about Jesus. And when I belong to Him, I don't have to manufacture this life by trying harder and harder. He is the Blessed Man. I am blessed in Him.
Suzy: That’s so good!
[moving water]
Suzy: Wait! Do you hear that?
Dannah: What?
Suzy: The water?
Dannah: That’s Prairie Creek.
Suzy: Can we go check it out? There’s something I want to share about my time meditating on Psalm 1.
Dannah: Sure.
Suzy: It sounds like it’s just around the other side of Big Tree!
Dannah: Yep!
Suzy: Big Tree’s so big, I didn’t see it there.
Wait! There's something in the water.
Dannah: Please don't pick it up.
Suzy: I wasn't going to pick it up.
Dannah: You picked up a banana slug. I've lost confidence in your boundaries.
Suzy: It's a rough-skinned newt! You can tell by the little orange belly. Nope! Wouldn't pick that one up. Toxic.
Dannah: Great. We will delight in him . . . from afar.
Suzy: Look at you applying Psalm 1!
So the reason I wanted to point out this creek . . . everything around this creek is ridiculously green, right? Ferns. Moss. Trees. Life.
Dannah: Your point?
Suzy: Dannah, look at the trees along this water. I think I finally see where I am in Psalm 1.
Dannah: Tell me!
Suzy: The tree isn't running around trying to find water. It's planted beside it.
Dannah: Yeah, of course. Trees don’t have legs.
Suzy: No. They have roots that stay in one place . . . near the water.
Dannah: Yes. They’re planted next to water.
Suzy: So if Jesus is the Blessed Man, maybe my job isn't to try harder to become Him. I need to plant myself close to Him. I mean, Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”
Dannah: Oh, now I’m gonna say it. “That’s so good!”
Suzy: I need to plant myself close to Jesus.
Dannah: Stay near the water.
Suzy: Exactly. I have to do that every single morning. It took me a while to learn to start my days meeting Jesus in reading the Bible, to build a habit. I went through a season when I had COVID when I learned that this—being attached to Jesus, planted near Jesus—was my lifeline.
And then, I think this Holy Girl Walk of yours is another layer of planting yourself next to the living water of Jesus.
Dannah: It’s really helped me to stay close to him in my mind and heart. I just love getting out in nature to see what He’s created.
Suzy: Like banana slugs?
Dannah: I love all creatures, Suzy. I just don’t prefer to touch all of them.
Claire: So here’s what I want you to remember from this season of the True Girl podcast: you don’t have to try harder and harder to become like the individual we read about in Psalm 1. Jesus is that person. Stay close to Him. Sink your roots into His Word. Let His truth fill your mind, and let Him produce the fruit in your life. In just a moment, I’ll read Psalm 1 over you.
True Girl, staying planted close to Jesus doesn’t have to be complicated. For me, it looks like reading whatever passage I’m at for the day, writing it out, and thinking about what the Lord might be teaching me through it. Then, it seems like God will often bring that passage to my mind throughout the day. Those habits keep me planted by Him. Maybe you can try something similar, or ask your mom for other ideas.
Join us for the Holy Girl Walk, November 1–12, when we walk and memorize! And don’t forget—there are mom-daughter conversation prompts each day on the True Girl social media channels.
That’s our big challenge for November, but there’s another one! Is there any grumbling in your house? No? Just mine? Okay, you can skip this part. (laughter) Seriously, our True Girl subscription box is challenging us to take the whole month to cancel grumbling and grow gratitude with No Grumble November.
Learn more at MyTrueGirl.com and subscribe in time to receive the No Grumble November Box.
And come back next week, because we’re starting the No Grumble November Challenge together on the podcast.
Now, here’s Psalm 1.
Oh, the joys of those who do not
follow the advice of the wicked,
or stand around with sinners,
or join in with mockers.
But they delight in the law of the Lord,
meditating on it day and night.
They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither,
and they prosper in all they do.But not the wicked!
They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.
They will be condemned at the time of judgment.
Sinners will have no place among the godly.
For the Lord watches over the path of the godly,
but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.
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