Meditate

Read the Scripture Psalms 1:1-6 “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.”

About the scripture

The Psalms are a collection of songs and articles of worship in Israel, written (by different people) over a long period of time - 1300 yrs before Jesus to the Exilic period, 600 yrs before Jesus

Psalm 1 Employs Chiasm - a literary artform in the ancient world where parallelism is inverted ( parallelism making the same point with two sentences or paragraphs )

Parallelism: Nor stands in the path of sinners - Nor sits in the seat of the scornful

Inverted Parallelism - ABCBA

A - Psalms1:1

Psalm 1:1 ESV

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;

B - Psalms 1:2

Psalm 1:2 ESV

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

C Psalms1:3

Psalm 1:3 ESV

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.

A: Psalms 1:5

Psalm 1:5 ESV

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

B: Psalms 1:6

Psalm 1:6 ESV

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

Meditate (Spend a little more time here)

Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament) (2047 I. הָגָה)

meditate, ponder, give serious thought and consideration to selected information, with a possible implication of speaking in low tones reviewing the material (Jos 1:8);

For example:

Joshua 1:8 ESV

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Five points to remember

Read the law of God multiple times, sometimes in low tones - muttering to yourself (It helps to maintain focus, and to recall what you read).

Delight in God’s law - Enjoy it, don’t do it out of duty, but because you want to.

Think carefully about the words in God’s law (The Torah, The Bible or God’s instructions)

So that you may not forget it ( Psalm 119:11 )

So that you may understand it

So that you can understand who God is, and what He wants with you

As a part of prayer

In your prayer, ask God the questions that came up when you were reading and thinking about the passage you read

What you read is not usually about you, try to understand God through what you read, and apply it in your prayer (Jonah 4:2)

You will be like a tree planted by a river. Every season, you will bear fruits, and your leaves will not wither.