The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked (Psalm 1)

We are about to begin an exciting journey into the world of Psalms. As I type this, I am excited as well as anxious. I am excited because I am sure that studying these Psalms like never before will have a great effect on my spiritual life. At the same time, I am anxious because this is a very long book and going through it and internalizing it will be very challenging and will require a lot of dedication and discipline from my part. But as our Lord said, each day has its own worry. So, I am not going to look forward too much. I am going to relax, take it in slowly and trust in the Lord. I hope you do the same.

PSALM 1

This particular psalm has only 6 verses, but it covers a broad spectrum. The idea of the psalm is to compare and contrast between the righteous and the wicked. There are only two kinds of people in the world, the righteous and the wicked. People who do not have the righteousness of Christ imputed to them are innately wicked. We know this since scripture teaches us that all men have fallen short of the glory of God. In essence, the whole Bible is about God in His sovereign grace redeeming wicked sinners and making him them righteous by imputing to them a righteousness that is not their own.

1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of the sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

Have you ever wondered what the word "blessed" means? The word is used very frequently among Christian circles, but many don't know the true definition of this word. After doing a bit of study on the word myself, this is what I felt was the best definition. Being blessed means having a deep seated joy and contentment in God. When I say deep seated, I mean that it is not affected by anything, except when it comes to sin. The blessed man remains joyful and content irrespective of the circumstances that he encounters. Do you have such joy and contentment or are you substituting true joy with entertainment and other worldly things? Ponder on this. 

The Psalm tells us that the blessed man does not walk, stand or sit with scoffers. Note that it does not mention anything about complete avoidance. As we live in this world, contact with wicked people is inevitable or like Paul said we might have to leave this world. However, we decide whether or not we walk with them, take advice from them and sit with them. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. When we walk in the counsel of the ungodly or wicked we reject the counsel of the Lord. Walking leads to standing and then sitting, that is being completely absorbed in the things of the world. It is a downward spiral, and the blessed man avoids this by not getting too comfortable and cozy in this world.

2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.

The blessed man delights or finds joy in the laws or ways of the Lord. The Bible tells us the way to live life, it doesn't tell you who to marry or what profession you must have. It doesn't tell you how many children to have, or where to live. This means that no matter who you marry, or what you do in life, or how many children you decide to have, God is only concerned with how you play these roles in life. The blessed man meditates on God's Word continually for direction and insight. This keeps him from not having to delight in the way of sinners.

3. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither.

A healthy tree is an apt symbol for a blessed man especially in the harsh terrain of Israel. In our study of the word blessed, we said that the blessed man has a deep seated joy and contentment with God. This is the individual or inner side of being blessed. However, out of the inner state of being blessed flows the outer signs of being blessed. The man blessed by God will be fruitful, and will prosper in all that he does because he only does what his Lord wants him to do. 

4. The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff that the wind drives away.

So far, we have been talking about the blessed man or the righteous man. But as we saw in the introduction to this psalm, there is a second type of man - the wicked. While the blessed man is planted, signifying security and permanence, the wicked is like chaff that blows away in the wind. He is affected by circumstances, though he looks beautiful now he will not be able to withstand the wind that is to come. The chaff is also a symbol of worthlessness.

5. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

God's judgement on the wicked will be strong and final. It will be an irreversible judgement that finally once and for all divides the wicked and the righteous. Everything will be exposed, here on earth we have difficulty separating the tares and the wheat. But, on judgement day the separation will be complete and final. It will be a dreadful day for the wicked, but for the righteous it will the most glorious day. 

6. for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Broad is the way that leads to destruction and many go through it. The way of the wicked is the world's way.  It is a way where gratification of sinful desires is glorified and God is shunned as old, superstitious and unwanted. But the Lord knows the way of the righteous, this means that God is personally involved in the lives of his saints. He is not just sitting on his throne and giving his recognition to the righteous but his intimately involved in everything that they do and go through.

I hope that you enjoyed reading through this post. Maybe you just stumbled across this blog accidentally, but it would mean the world to me if you would comment and suggest anything that would make the blog better and more edifying for our Lord's church.