Psalm 1

The New Revised Standard Version The Two Ways

Happy are those

who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

or take the path that sinners tread,

or sit in the seat of scoffers;

2 but their delight is in the law of the LORD,

and on his law they meditate day and night.

3 They are like trees

planted by streams of water,

which yield their fruit in its season,

and their leaves do not wither.

In all that they do, they prosper.

4 The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

6 for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

Opening Prayer

God, we thank you for your word and for the good it brings. Open our ears and mind to hear your word today. Give us the patience to meditate on it. Soften our hearts to let it change us. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Intro to Psalter & Psalm 1

Psalms, unlike other books in the Bible, teach us what it means to be human. In the Psalms, we hear people praising God, praying for help either of themselves or of a group, we hear people thanking God for specific things he has done, and we even have a section of Psalms that were sung when the Isrealites would go up to the temple for worship. Some people say that the book of Psalms is basically a little Bible of itself. The book of Psalms is one of the most beautiful and comprehensive books of the Bible that we have today. Part of the beauty in these 150 Psalms is that they are all different, but they are all the word of God in their own way.

But when we first open up the book of Psalms, we don’t hear someone talking or praying to God. We don’t get a sense of emotion that’s going on in the author’s life. Instead, as the prequel to this life-filled and emotional book, we get a beatitude. Similar to the beatitudes as we know them in Matthew 6, Psalm 1 tells us what it is that makes someone blessed, and what they will eventually inherit. Psalm 1 being written in this way as a beatitude and being placed in the beginning of this book is not an accident. This psalm is an invitation for us to read all of the psalms as a guide to blessed life.

Exegesis

One thing you may have noticed, is that the word used in the beginning of the Psalm is happy. But we know that throughout history and even today, we are not always happy in the sense that we know that word, for following the law of God. But for the Jewish audience that this Psalm was written to, happiness has more to do with a sense of being blessed or fortunate. Not necessarily getting put on a magic spell of happiness that makes them smile all the time, but that they recognize that they are fortunate for being in the presence of God

We then see in this passage what these people who are fortunate do or don’t do. The first things used to describe them is that they don’t follow the advice of the wicked, take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers. The first thing we know about these people is things that they avoid. But instead, their delight, their joy, and their life comes from the law of the LORD. And they meditate on this law day and night.

Whenever I hear or read this, I get a little bit confused. How can the law, something that we think is so boring and inapplicable and cruel be something that’s worth delighting in? The word that is used to say “law” here is actually torah. When we think of Torah, we think of the first five books of the Bible- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. For me personally, I can’t say that my delight is found in the law and that I meditate on it day and night. But in this sense, we can look at torah meaning God’s “teaching” or “instruction” or “wisdom” not just a list of do’s and don’ts.

Jesus actually had access to all of these laws, and probably this Psalm too! In Matthew 22, Jesus gives us a beautiful summary of the law.

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

This sounds like something that I can delight in and meditate in day and night. Jesus, as he always does, takes the expectations we have about the law, and turns them into something beautiful.

Who’s Who?

If you’re like me, you may be thinking “Am I the blessed, or am I the wicked?” In reality, we have all probably been called both of these things in our lives. And we’ve probably called other people both of these things more than we can count. Paul speaks truth in Romans 7 when he says “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” Does that sound like anyone else too? We can read the Bible and understand the law of God, and even when we know what we are supposed to do, we so often choose the wrong way, harming our neighbor and forgetting the grace we have through Christ.

But the good news that comes from this passage is that being “good” or “righteous” or “blessed” does not have to do only with our actions. I’ve been learning recently that life isn’t something you can just muscle your way through with no help. But we have help with God, the one who created us, saved us, and lives in us. We can’t look at this passage just as a set of legalistic rules that we have to follow in order to live a life worth living. Instead, we can see it as an invitation to do what Jesus commanded us to.

In Acts 16, we see an example of two people who were happy or blessed, despite their circumstances. Paul and Silas were accused of causing a public uproar and ordered by the Roman authorities to be stripped and beaten severely with rods by the crowds. After the crowds were done beating them, they were put into prison with their feet strapped to the ground. This doesn’t really sound like something that would cause me to praise God, but Paul and Silas, even after all of this happened, began singing hymns and praises to God while they were in jail. Eventually, their singing and their praises caused an earthquake to happen which opened the prison doors and set everyone free.

It was their joy and trust and faithfulness to God that created freedom for the imprisoned and the oppressed.

I think this story of Paul and Silas helps us to understand what the word “happy” can mean in this passage. It’s not just something that we feel, or something that is the result of good things happening. It’s a way of life, a way of being that sets us free.

Imagery and Examples

One of the things I love about this Psalm is the imagery that it uses. The righteous are like big, healthy, fruitful trees that are planted by streams of flowing water. These trees yield fruit, are constantly alive, and prosper all of the time.

The wicked, however, are like chaff that the wind drives away. An image that came to my mind when I read this was like a box full of packing peanuts in the wind, just going everywhere and causing chaos. These people, the Psalms show, are half-hearted, shallow, cause division and are always looking for how they can benefit.

Most of the time, I don’t feel like a healthy tree, bearing fruit in all seasons and flourishing in all that I do. Most days, I feel like chaff, kind of just wandering around trying to make it to the next day/week. I don’t think that this Psalm is trying to tell us that we are perfect, righteous and holy all of the time. But I also don’t think it’s trying to tell us that there is no hope for us when we feel like chaff, being blown by the wind.

Let’s look back and try to notice what it is that makes this healthy tree so healthy and fruitful. It’s not because the tree works harder than every other plant or because it’s smarter, or stronger. It’s simply because of where the tree is planted. Being planted by the stream of water is what gives the tree it’s life. When we plant and root ourselves close to God, we receive his peace and fullness overflowing in our lives.

Earlier in the Psalm, the author says that the righteous meditate on God’s teaching day and night. This word that we see as meditate also means to utter or recite. Meditating or speaking something over yourself requires you to slow down and reflect, which is something that is hard for us to do. When I think about how hard it is to meditate on God’s truth, my mind goes back to all the other things I meditate on day and night or tell myself on a daily basis.

The things that I meditate or recite to myself often sound like “I am not worthy to be here.” “I am not worthy to be loved” “I can’t do this”

There’s always going to be things that guide our lives and serve as our “torah” or our instruction. If you’re like me, and maybe struggling a little bit to hear/meditate and recite God’s truth to yourself, I want to invite you to look in the Psalms, and pray them over yourself and over your communities. Psalm 23 is a good place to start, but just reading, reciting, and letting these words into your life and your heart I think can be really a powerful way to let God speak to you and change you. And then, maybe reach out to someone, someone who you know from work, or family or life or whatever who you think may need to hear truth and tell them something encouraging or some way you see God moving through their life. We are called not to just let the word of God change us just for ourselves, but to use that change to love others better. Encouraging someone is such an simple way to really impact a life or a day for good

I really believe that God works through our communities and the people around us to give us encouragement and point us closer to his truth. Because when we know the truth that God gives us and meditate on it, we are like this tree planted by the stream. Because of where we are and our closeness to God, we become rooted in his truth and in his word.

So today, as we close our time together, I want to invite you to be like a tree planted by the stream. To remember that God doesn’t love us for our actions, but he chooses to love us even when we don’t feel like being worthy of his love or loving him back. God has chosen to know us- all of us, as righteous. Jesus, in His love, has chosen to know and love you more deeply than you can ever be loved. Even when we are like chaff, being blown in the wind, Jesus gently guides us back to the stream, where we can be planted. This is the mystery of faith that seems so hard for us to know as truth. But today, I want to invite you to meditate and rest on the fact that you are chosen. To be like a tree planted by the water is to put ourselves in a position where we can hear and speak God’s wisdom over ourselves and our communities, so that we can go and be God’s partner in illuminating the path of the righteous for the whole world to see.

When we read this Psalm or any passage in the Bible that makes us kind of tense up and think about all the ways that we fall short, I want to challenge us to resist that urge and instead rest in the truth that God chooses us, no matter how far away from him we feel.

Closing Prayer

God of love, we pray that we can be reminded who we are in you. You created us and constantly are watching over us with grace and patience. We pray that you guide us to the stream that is your word. God, change us and make us more like you. Amen