I recall memorizing Psalm 1 in grade school. Back in the olden days we used the King James version of the Bible, and the words still reverberate in my mind a lifetime later.
Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly…
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night…
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water…
It’s funny how those little snippets still bounce around in my brain, echoing across the decades.
Now, here is Psalm 1 in the Amplified Bible, a version of the Bible that includes definitions and synonyms of the words translated in order to give a deeper understanding of the original languages. This serves to “amplify” the text, and I find it super helpful when I’m studying the Bible!
1 [a]Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked [following their advice and example],
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit [down to rest] in the seat of [b]scoffers (ridiculers).
2
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And on His law [His precepts and teachings] he [habitually] meditates day and night.
3
And he will be like a tree firmly planted [and fed] by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season;
Its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers [and comes to maturity]. 4
The wicked [those who live in disobedience to God’s law] are not so,
But they are like the chaff [worthless and without substance] which the wind blows away.
5
Therefore the wicked will not stand [unpunished] in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6
For the Lord knows and fully approves the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked shall perish.
In Psalm 1 we see two different types of people. We see the blessed person–one who is fortunate, prosperous, and favored, and we see the wicked person–one who lives in disobedience to God’s law.
The blessed person refuses to follow the advice and example of the wicked, but instead delights in God’s teachings and habitually thinks about them. The psalmist compares the blessed person to a thriving, fruitful tree that is nourished by streams of water.
In contrast, the wicked person is someone who is disobedient to God’s law, and spends time mocking and ridiculing His teachings. The psalmist says that the wicked person is like chaff, the inedible, outer-coverings of grains or seeds. In other words, the disobedient person is totally worthless and without substance.
In the end, the blessed person will be firmly established and approved by the Lord, and the disobedient person will be punished in judgment, blown away by the wind.
When I meditate on this chapter of Psalms, I often look at my life and wonder how I’m doing. You know, a bit like a spiritual check up. Am I strong and thriving and bearing fruit? Or am I disobediently living a life that produces worthless chaff? Not surprisingly perhaps, I often give myself a fairly low grade on this metaphorical report card. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always feel like I’m thriving. I’ve noticed that my strength never seems sufficient for the tasks ahead, and that I get cranky and irritable the harder I try to be strong. Then I find that I run out of patience, and I forget to be kind, and where DID that fruit of the spirt go? And if I look deeper than the surface, I’ll see my struggle with forgiveness and my twisted sense of justice, and— Well, maybe I should stop here before I get too depressed! If my spiritual report card were measured by what goodness I achieved by my own strength, then I’d be getting a failing grade every time!
But GOOD NEWS!
Jesus. The Good News is always Jesus. So where is He in all of this? Isn’t the psalmist simply saying, “If you delight in and meditate on God’s law you will blessed, but if you are wicked and disobedient you will perish in judgement.”? Well, yes. That is one of the spiritual truths here. But there is more! We need to take a deeper look at the tree analogy.
The tree thrives because it is firmly established by streams of water.
SO.
In this analogy the tree is the blessed person and the water is Jesus!
If we want to thrive and produce good fruit, we must be nourished by the Living Water! It’s Jesus’ righteousness that sanctifies us. It is through the perfect work of the Spirit of Jesus in us that we are made more like Him. So it is this transforming work of the Holy Spirit that produces the healthy, good spiritual fruit we so long to see in our lives!
Just as the tree’s strength and fruitfulness come from the streams of water that nourish it; so also does our health and fruitfulness UTTERLY DEPEND on Jesus’ Living Water! We will not thrive, grow, or produce spiritual fruit unless our roots sink deep into the soil fed by the Living Water–One who is the very Word of God!
Which brings us full circle. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. The law is the Word of God, and the blessed person is nourished by delighting and meditating on the very Word of God.
Be blessed today! I pray that by the power of Jesus’ Spirit in you, you will be strengthened and transformed, and that all your ways may be known and fully approved by God!
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Beautiful Balance 