May You Be Green
Does God have a favorite color? In Tennessee in spring and summer and much of fall, you have to wonder if it isn’t green.
Green is the first color God mentions in the Bible. In Genesis 1, He gave all creatures green plants for food. He spoke again of His gift of green plants for food after Noah, his family, and the animals came out of the ark. When God spoke with Job, He told him that donkeys search in the mountains for every green thing (Job 39:5-8).
In Psalm 23 we hear the comforting words about God making us lie down in green pastures.
We know that Jesus probably fed the 5,000 in the springtime, because He told them to sit down in groups on the green grass (Mark 6:39).
Green leaves are an indication that a plant is doing well. God uses the green of plants to symbolize righteous lives. In Proverbs 11:28, we learn that “He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf.” In Psalm 92:12-15 we learn that the righteous will be very green even in old age.
In modern English, being green has a negative connotation. Sometimes stomach flu makes us green and we must always guard against being green with envy. However, my prayer for you and your children is that you will be green –the kind of green in Psalm 52.
But as for me,
I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God;
I trust in the lovingkindness of God
forever and ever.
Psalm 52:8, NASB