In preparation for Sunday, I want to encourage you to take a moment to pray and meditate on Psalm 1 (copied in bold below, with some commentary).
The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked
Blessed is the man
In the Hebrew, “blessed” is repeated here, for emphasis. Some English translations try to reflect that by writing, “How blessed.” The word itself (asher) can also mean joyful or happy. So, the tone of this opening line is, “How abundantly blessed and joyful is the man…”
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
Notice the verbs: walk, stand, sit. There’s a slowing to the motion: first walking in wicked counsel, then standing in their principles, and finally sitting, as if to claim it as their identity. That is the crafty way of our deceiver! And it is the reason why the book of Proverbs speaks so often about choosing wise companions in life–and the Word of God (i.e. advice of a father) most of all.
but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Do you delight in God’s law? I think “law” here can refer to His written commands in scripture and also the laws He has written in nature.
This word, “meditate,” in the Hebrew literally means “to mutter.” The blessed man reads God’s Word and then goes about his days with that Word continually on his lips.
He is like a tree planted
The tree is planted, which implies a planter. You are not some wanderer whose place and time is meaningless. You are the planting of God! His purpose was to plant you right where you are at this moment in history. Think less about where or when you would like to be in life and put your roots down and stay a while!
by streams of water
Two streams: God’s Word and Spirit! David may also be intentionally evoking images of Eden with this language. Such is the beauty of a life ordered by God’s law.
that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
There will be seasons of drought in every Christian’s life, when the fruit of the Spirit, along with the spiritual reproduction of disciples, will appear to be dormant. In those days, reading God’s Word may feel more like a duty than a delight. But it is precisely in those seasons of drought that the blessed man’s roots are driven even deeper, as it reaches and thirsts for God’s Word and Spirit.
The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Again, the Hebrew is helpful here because the word for wind is also translated “spirit.” It is the same word used to describe God’s Spirit hovering over the chaos and deep of creation. For the blessed man, the wind of the Spirit gives life and spreads its seeds across the earth for the prosperity of generation after generation. But for the wicked, that wind scatters them like dead, hollow husks.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
In the first verse, the righteous will not stand in the way of sinners. Here, the wicked will not stand in the way of the righteous. The first is a conscious decision, to walk in the counsel of scripture and to reject the voice of folly. The second is God’s prerogative, which will not only condemn the wisdom of fools but also the fools themselves.
The Lord knows the way of the righteous because that way is His! It is we who walk in His ways, not we who try to work God into our agenda. Along those same lines, we gather together with Him and His Church not so that He can be a help to the course we have set for ourselves. We gather to forsake our way and be renewed in the fervent pursuit of His.
Let us all prepare our hearts accordingly over the weekend!
Your brother,
Ryan