The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. (ESV)

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. (NIV)

Dive Deeper

Where are you planted?

The righteous possess a different kind of flourishing. The unexpected kind. The kind that doesn’t wilt in the heat. 

Rooted not in performance, but in His presence. In the courts of our God. They’re like palm trees—green even in the desert. Like the cedars of Lebanon—unshakeable and majestic. Their roots run deep, all the way down to the Living Water.

Like the palm tree, when you’re planted in Christ your circumstances and surroundings no longer determine your life and growth. 

This isn’t the cheap flourishing of Psalm 92:7, the kind the wicked enjoy that grows fast but fades even quicker. That kind of flourishing is surface-level success destined for destruction. 

For the wicked, this life is as good as it gets.

But for the righteous? This life holds the worst we’ll ever know. And even still we flourish.

Being planted in Christ doesn’t mean escaping pain but finding purpose in it. It means trusting that the Gardener is near. He tends and He prunes. Not to harm, but to make room for more fruit. He does all this because He loves us.

Flourishing is embracing the slow, steady work of becoming. It’s digging roots before stretching out branches. Working on the hidden life rather than outward appearances. And through it all, abiding in the One who holds it all together.

And one day, when the pruning is done, we’ll stand in glory, perfected by the loving hands of the Gardener. Not just flourishing, but flawless. Planted and standing tall in the house of the Lord, among the saints, forever. 

Written by Keaton Hewitt