Blessed 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; 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 that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 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.
~Psalm 1
So I am slightly addicted to Psalms! The writers just pour out their hearts before God and every time I read through them it gives me a heart to do the same. David was said to be a man after God's own heart and he poured out his heart before God. Every complaint, joyous moment, sad day, or uplifting song he poured his heart out like water before the Lord and God still said he was a man after His own heart. I want to be like Christ so I want to know more about this whole thing and am diving right into it.
This Psalm is filled with so much wisdom and packs a heavy punch it shows us a whole new way of thinking about the words success and blessed. It gives us a comparison between righteous and wicked. It gives a great analogy by using nature. So let's look at it with all of that in mind.
"Blessed 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;"
He says blessed is not walking in the counsel of the wicked or standing in the way of sinners or sitting at the seat of scoffers. We are blessed when we walk in the counsel of the righteous and stand in the way of the saints and sitting at the seat of those glorifying Christ. Those things bless us. They make us more like Him so we are blessed to become more like Him. Most the time we look at blessings as things that are monetary or things that are beneficial to us here on earth. This is a completely different blessing. This is an eternal treasure, an eternal blessing. This is a timeless treasure that carries over to our life after ... our life (hmm funny but true). "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Luke 12:34. The next part of this line opens up much more.
"but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night."
So the blessed man finds delight in God's word (the law of the Lord). Not only does he delight in it he meditates on it day AND night. When we find delight in something it gives us great pleasure and enjoyment. So the blessed man enjoys the law of the Lord, he enjoys it so much that he is contemplates God's word night and day. Uh I am doing well if I spend time with God once in a day. If I contemplated on this all day long ... night and day, day and night, everyday ... my life, values, everything would be completely different.
"He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers."
In all that he does, he prospers. Wow! This man loves the Lord. He delights in the law of the Lord, he meditates on God's word day and night, and the analogy here is that he is a tree planted by streams of water yielding fruit in due season with its leafs not withering. Dang, awesomeness! The analogy is what gets me here. Think about it, trees need water to grow. If you have ever planted anything you know that you have to keep it watered, but you can't water it too much at one time because you can drown that plant. So a tree that is planted by a constantly flowing body of water is getting fresh water all the time. It is able to take in rich nutrients from that water and grow big and tall and strong. That fresh water pumping through the roots and veins of the tree are producing fruit and keeping the leaves alive. Let's break the analogy down a little more, shall we. Think of that fresh, clean, flowing water as God's word. A man grounded or rooted in God's word is going to have a passion for the things of the Lord. Thus the law of the Lord pumping through his veins. This particular man wants to see the things of God played out in his life. He produces the kind of spiritual fruit we read about in Galatians 5:22-251. He also will want to produce fruit that multiplies into the lives of others in the way of discipleship and sharing Christ with the lost. Right after it talks about yielding fruit in season it says "in all that he does, he prospers." The prosperity here it is talking about has everything to do with spiritual prosperity, hello! he is yielding fruit. Gosh, I want to live planted by streams of water and boy do I want to yield fruit and live a life where my leaves do not wither and I want all that I do to prosper.
"The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 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."
So the man walking in the path of the righteous is prospering. But we see here that "the wicked are not so." The wicked are like chaff. Ok, so chaff (if you didn't know) is " the husk of corn or wheat which was separated from the grain by being thrown into the air, the wind blowing away the chaff, while the grain was saved. The carrying away of chaff by the wind is an ordinary scriptural image of the destruction of the wicked and of their powerlessness to resist God's judgments." (definition pulled from bible.cc). The wicked are basically weeded out of this and will not stand in the judgment. Yeah, those are not my words but God's words. God says that the wicked are driven away and will not stand in the judgment and sinners are not able to stand in the congregation (or in the presence) of the righteous. God knows everything about us. He knows where we go, what we do, what we think, the words that escape our lips ... He knows E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G! We cannot escape God. No, you cannot hide under your covers from God. God can still see you. God is the only one who truly knows who the goats are and who the sheep are. We cannot say someone is lost or saved, we are not God which means that we cannot judge others hearts. I do, however, like that in this passage there is no in between and there is only righteous and wicked. There are only two types of people, lost and saved. There is no in between. Do you get that? If the world ends right now and Christ does not know you (Matthew 7:21-23). We all know that God exists. We all have the opportunity to follow Him or reject Him. But we do not usually consider this thought of "does Christ know me?" We live in a place where it is all about us. Our relationships with God often revolve around us more than Christ. We sing songs at church that are touchy feely songs (you know, the kind of songs that make us feel good about ourselves). --Ok so I could go all day on that so ... stopping there before I go on a 5 day tangent -- Any way, the point is if you do not know Christ and you aren't sure if He knows you there is hope. God sent His son to come and die so that we do not have to. It pleased God to crush His own son for the sin of the world. Our sin was paid for by God. He paid our debt. That absolutely blows my mind and I rarely take the time to sit and meditate on the sacrifice that our Lord Jesus Christ made for us. The all knowing, all powerful, loving, merciful, grace giving, just God that we were created for sacrificed the greatest price so that we could have the opportunity to live in eternity with Him. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). He loved the world so much that He gave His son to die for you. Yes, you. You sitting there reading this right now. You would not give your own child, would you? Really, would you? I highly doubt you would. God gave us hope, our hope is in Him. "The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." So it sounds sad but there is a ton of hope!
Yeah so this is a long one and I pretty much restate the Psalm but there is so much packed into it I just had to.
1. Galatians 5:22-25: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
He says blessed is not walking in the counsel of the wicked or standing in the way of sinners or sitting at the seat of scoffers. We are blessed when we walk in the counsel of the righteous and stand in the way of the saints and sitting at the seat of those glorifying Christ. Those things bless us. They make us more like Him so we are blessed to become more like Him. Most the time we look at blessings as things that are monetary or things that are beneficial to us here on earth. This is a completely different blessing. This is an eternal treasure, an eternal blessing. This is a timeless treasure that carries over to our life after ... our life (hmm funny but true). "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Luke 12:34. The next part of this line opens up much more.
"but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night."
So the blessed man finds delight in God's word (the law of the Lord). Not only does he delight in it he meditates on it day AND night. When we find delight in something it gives us great pleasure and enjoyment. So the blessed man enjoys the law of the Lord, he enjoys it so much that he is contemplates God's word night and day. Uh I am doing well if I spend time with God once in a day. If I contemplated on this all day long ... night and day, day and night, everyday ... my life, values, everything would be completely different.
"He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers."
In all that he does, he prospers. Wow! This man loves the Lord. He delights in the law of the Lord, he meditates on God's word day and night, and the analogy here is that he is a tree planted by streams of water yielding fruit in due season with its leafs not withering. Dang, awesomeness! The analogy is what gets me here. Think about it, trees need water to grow. If you have ever planted anything you know that you have to keep it watered, but you can't water it too much at one time because you can drown that plant. So a tree that is planted by a constantly flowing body of water is getting fresh water all the time. It is able to take in rich nutrients from that water and grow big and tall and strong. That fresh water pumping through the roots and veins of the tree are producing fruit and keeping the leaves alive. Let's break the analogy down a little more, shall we. Think of that fresh, clean, flowing water as God's word. A man grounded or rooted in God's word is going to have a passion for the things of the Lord. Thus the law of the Lord pumping through his veins. This particular man wants to see the things of God played out in his life. He produces the kind of spiritual fruit we read about in Galatians 5:22-251. He also will want to produce fruit that multiplies into the lives of others in the way of discipleship and sharing Christ with the lost. Right after it talks about yielding fruit in season it says "in all that he does, he prospers." The prosperity here it is talking about has everything to do with spiritual prosperity, hello! he is yielding fruit. Gosh, I want to live planted by streams of water and boy do I want to yield fruit and live a life where my leaves do not wither and I want all that I do to prosper.
"The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 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."
So the man walking in the path of the righteous is prospering. But we see here that "the wicked are not so." The wicked are like chaff. Ok, so chaff (if you didn't know) is " the husk of corn or wheat which was separated from the grain by being thrown into the air, the wind blowing away the chaff, while the grain was saved. The carrying away of chaff by the wind is an ordinary scriptural image of the destruction of the wicked and of their powerlessness to resist God's judgments." (definition pulled from bible.cc). The wicked are basically weeded out of this and will not stand in the judgment. Yeah, those are not my words but God's words. God says that the wicked are driven away and will not stand in the judgment and sinners are not able to stand in the congregation (or in the presence) of the righteous. God knows everything about us. He knows where we go, what we do, what we think, the words that escape our lips ... He knows E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G! We cannot escape God. No, you cannot hide under your covers from God. God can still see you. God is the only one who truly knows who the goats are and who the sheep are. We cannot say someone is lost or saved, we are not God which means that we cannot judge others hearts. I do, however, like that in this passage there is no in between and there is only righteous and wicked. There are only two types of people, lost and saved. There is no in between. Do you get that? If the world ends right now and Christ does not know you (Matthew 7:21-23). We all know that God exists. We all have the opportunity to follow Him or reject Him. But we do not usually consider this thought of "does Christ know me?" We live in a place where it is all about us. Our relationships with God often revolve around us more than Christ. We sing songs at church that are touchy feely songs (you know, the kind of songs that make us feel good about ourselves). --Ok so I could go all day on that so ... stopping there before I go on a 5 day tangent -- Any way, the point is if you do not know Christ and you aren't sure if He knows you there is hope. God sent His son to come and die so that we do not have to. It pleased God to crush His own son for the sin of the world. Our sin was paid for by God. He paid our debt. That absolutely blows my mind and I rarely take the time to sit and meditate on the sacrifice that our Lord Jesus Christ made for us. The all knowing, all powerful, loving, merciful, grace giving, just God that we were created for sacrificed the greatest price so that we could have the opportunity to live in eternity with Him. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). He loved the world so much that He gave His son to die for you. Yes, you. You sitting there reading this right now. You would not give your own child, would you? Really, would you? I highly doubt you would. God gave us hope, our hope is in Him. "The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." So it sounds sad but there is a ton of hope!
Yeah so this is a long one and I pretty much restate the Psalm but there is so much packed into it I just had to.
1. Galatians 5:22-25: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
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