“The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked”
Lord, may my delight be in your word and may I meditate on it day and night.
Psalm 1 should be read as an introduction to the whole book of Psalms.
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
“Blessed” calls to mind the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-11.
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
“meditates day and night” — “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” (Deut. 6:7)
3 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.
“he prospers” (like a well watered tree) — consequence of faithfully meditating on God’s word.
4 The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
“chaff that the wind drives away” (dried up) — consequence of those rooted in evil
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
The “way” one chooses in life determines one’s end. How do we find the right way — mediate on God’s word and act on it. Hear and do. Such a person is blessed.
Hi David, I’m finally starting in on your blog as my daily devotional cue. I’ll read at least one Psalm each day I’m online. Hopefully I’ll gradually catch up to you. By the way, I’m using a dormant email account to sign in so I can see how well Google protects its clients. Feel free to respond to either account, but I look at the address you usually write to much more often.
Re Psalm 1 – how would you define “prospers” in vs.3? Does God hereby guarantee financial success if I delight and meditate in the law of the LORD and start a new business? Or that my kids will turn out great if I’m doing this while parenting? I assume that Jesus fulfilled vs 2 while on earth, but he ended up crucified. That’s not quite as inviting a view of “prosper”!
PLR
In verse 3, I said “prospers” was like a well watered tree. I think it is a metaphor for eternal life. It is not a guarantee of financial success (I’m proof of that). Jesus suffered on earth but received great glory in heaven.
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David