Living for Him

PSALM ONE

Hope that you have been having a fantastic week thus far. My week has already been filled with work, spending time with Joanna, and being in God’s word. One thing that I have been thinking about what I want these entries to look like. I do not think that the format of this entry will be the end all be all of what this writing will look like. I also may be messing around with the title from time to time. I also like consistancy so expect some regularity in three to five posts. This text is one that has a couple major themes that I am excited to write about today, so enough with the lame intro, let’s talk about the only Book that matters!

OVERVIEW

This chapter is the start of the longest book in the Bible, the Psalms. In my opinion, this book has some of the most convicting, challenging, and joy-giving passages of scripture. There are multiple types of Psalms that are accumulated to make up this book. This specific chapter gives an overview to the whole book. There are a two themes of these six verses the first being “the righteous” and the second being “the wicked”. Now, as believers we have a large amount of hope because Christ has made us righteous. But if you do not believe in Him, do not lose hope because in any point in your life you can accept the free gift of salvation. In the first three verses it describes this idea of the blessed man. In the first verse the Psalmist lays out things that we should not do. The second verse shows this idea of being in God’s word. And the third verse is this illustration of what happens to the person who does walk in the righteous way. Verses four and five show this idea of the “wicked” and describes what happens to this group of people. The last verse brings up both themes of this verse and what God does as an action. If you want, read further to hear what God is convicting me of in this chapter.

Verse 1

“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;”

One thing in my deep study of this chapter that I thought was so interesting is that this specific verse has an exact same wording as the sermon on the mount. I think it is so cool how the Bible connects itself in so many ways. Blessed is this idea of favor, which is an incredible thing that we do not deserve from an eternal God. The Psalmist then goes on to tell us three different things to avoid. Not to seek counsel that is not first God influenced. Which is hard to do in the culture of anything that we can get our fingertips to. Then the next two ideas are closely related to one another, just a different way to say do not follow the way of flesh-led people. Which is also equally as difficult when we are also prone to fall into that mindset.

Verse 2

“but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he mediates day and night.”

This verse is a continuation of the last verse, but in contrast to telling the reader not to do something we are turned to something that matters much more. The word delight here is an interesting choice, we are supposed to take pleasure in the inspired word of God. One thing that I have enjoyed a lot so far in my young marriage is this idea of being able to apease my wife with different activities and actions. How much more though should I take enjoyment of getting to know more about my Creator. Also this text shows us the amount and intensity we should be delighting in his word. This idea of day and night could be seen as scary. But we should be taking a percentage of our time to delight in the word of God.

Verse 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.”

This is a beautiful illustration of what a life looks like when the individual is taking in the word of God and delighting in it. The first thing that I notice in this verse is that we are a people made to be planted in God’s word. And that is the source of us bearing fruit and prospering. When you take away the nutrients that the tree needs to surive and thrive it becomes dead and the fruit does not start to yield at all. This idea is similar to what happens when we decide to cut ourselves off from the life source that we need to take from.

Verse 4

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

Here comes the second theme of this chapter. There is this idea of wickedness that the Psalmist starts to discuss. They are directly opposite of the righteous, they live in a manner of utter rebellion. This ties into my story, when I was younger I did not truly realize the weight of what God did for me. And I was driven about any direction that my flesh took me. Which is what people are prone to if they do not realize the grace that Jesus gives. I am glad though that I have been able to see it more clearly.

Verse 5

“Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;”

The therefore in this verse is a sign that the end of this Psalm is coming. There is this feeling of finality to it. Which can be a weird place to be at if you are in an exploration stage in Christianity. This verse is a small picture of what the day of judgement will be like. The wicked, refered to as chaff, in the previous verse will not be able to stay in their wicked ways when the Father of lights comes back to get his Bride. And it is also a sign of hope for people who are in Christ because the congregation of the righteous will be a beautiful place where we are again put into perfect union with our Father. A word to people in that exploration stage, God will not send his son back until every ear hears the good news of his son dying for you. You will have an opportunity to accept Jesus right up to the point where he comes back, there is joy and hope in that small statement.

Verse 6

“for the Lord knows the way of the rigtheous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

God knows you. You may not feel it, it may not be completely real for you in this season of your life. But he created you. The Lord of all time and space from the beginning of the universe knew that you would walk this earth in this century and he wants a real, loving relationship with you. He will continually be with you if you accept what he accomplished for you two-thousand years ago. But the sobering reality of the second half of this verse is that the people who are not in a realtionship with God will perish. That is a reality that I do not even want to believe. But the truth is that you can reach out and be saved.

CONCLUSION

The Bible is important in the life of a Christian. It should be where we recieve a majority of what drives us. If we dive headfirst into the book, it shows us things that we do not even truly understand. But luckily if you are in Christ the Spirit helps us make sense of the words that are inspired by the Living God. I know that I am more prone to be wicked than to being righteous, which is a harsh thing to think about. However, if I continue to repent of the things I fall short in and let God’s word have authority I can have life in the full forever.

Hope you enjoyed this if you got to this point. If you are a person who prays please be thinking about me. Recently God has continued to use people in my life to convict me and challenge me in new ways. So pray that God will continue to be full of grace towards this sinner. Hope you have a good rest of your day, and also if you want to reach out to me I am ALWAYS willing to talk about anything.

-Gabriel