Delight in God’s Law (Psalm 1)

Introduction

If you have been on any kind of social media, you are likely all to familiar with seeing #blessed as you scroll the page. Pictures and comments are posted with this #blessed, declaring in that picture—perfect moment, they declare themselves blessed. Or because certain events have happened in their lives, they are blessed. I have a wonderful family, #blessed. I have my health, #blessed. I won the lottery, #blessed. And it could go on and on.

‌While this phrase is thrown around loosely by any and all, what does it even mean to be blessed? Is it merely that we feel blessed? Or is it something more? More importantly, does this idea of blessedness actually align with what the Bible says on Blessedness? That’s what I want to talk to us about this morning.‌

‌This morning we begin to work our way through the book of Psalms, the Bible’s hymnbook by looking at Psalm 1. This can be found on page #528 if you are using one of the Red Bibles there in the seats or you can find it roughly in the middle of your own Bible.

‌‌Now, if you are familiar with your Bible, there are 150 Psalms in the Bible. So before you think we are going to spend the next nearly 3 years working through the Psalms, take a deep breath. Maybe over the next 30 we will cover all the Psalms, but over the next 4 Sundays, we are going to work our way through Psalm 1, 2, 3, and 4. And as we take breaks between series, we will come back and pick up where we previously left off.

‌Like the rest of our Bible, the Psalms have a context in the way they are structured. While we turn to the Psalms individually for comfort, there is a bigger and even brighter picture being painted with the Psalms to turn our hearts towards singing praise to the Good and Sovereign Ruler of the Universe!

‌‌Psalm 1 and 2 are the intro to the Psalms, which we look at the next two weeks, introducing the way to live and in the anointing of God’s King. Then the whole of the Psalms closes from Psalm 145-150 with God being extolled and praised by his people, the congregation of the righteous. Meaning that we move from Psalm 1 and blessed is the man who delights in the law of the LORD, to allegiance to be given to the Son in Psalm 2, to extolling and praising God in Psalms 145-150, and in the midst of this is moments of doubt and fear and struggle. There are moments in which the Psalmists feel abandoned and over and over again, they take that law in which they delight, they meditate on it, and it moves their hearts from what they feel to trust and praise of God Almighty.

‌‌For this is the point of the Psalms, to move our hearts to praise and trust God in the midst of our real and present emotions and circumstances. It is to help us sing when the evening comes regardless of the days troubles. Or as one commentator put it:

“In Psalms, those hoping for kingdom consummation express through lament, thanksgiving, or praise their faith and joy in Yahweh who reigns over all, ultimately through his Messiah.” [1]

‌‌It is my hope that as we study the Psalms off and on through the years, that our hearts may grow to love God’s word and his King more deeply to help us endure and sing praise to our Great God until the day our faith becomes sight. Let’s now dive in. Psalm 1.‌‌

Main Idea: If we are to seek to be the blessed of God both now and in eternity, then we must delight in God’s word and ultimately in God’s king. We are going to unfold this in 3 points: (1) The Blessed Way (Verses 1-2), (2) The Fruitful Way (Verses 3-4), and (3) The Righteous Way (Verses 5-6).

Point #1: The Blessed Way

Before we can understand who is the blessed, we must back up and consider what it means to be blessed. Hopefully you realize, in light of Psalm 1 here and Matthew 5:1-12 in the beatitudes, that the Bible teaches us that blessedness isn’t what the world teaches us. But more importantly we are not helped by confusing being blessed and the blessed either. While our English Bibles seek to help us and do a really really good job of their translation work, there are moments where a meaning isn’t able to fully come across because of the language. And so it is with what we see translated blessed. In English, we have this one word, but in Hebrew there are two words that we get the word blessed from. There is the Hebrew word בּרךְ and then there is אַ֥שְֽׁרֵי.

The word for the idea of blessing coming from a gift, a provision is בּרךְ . This use of blessedness is what we see when the LORD blesses Abraham:

Genesis 12:1–2 ESV

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

The LORD blesses Abram by promising to give him land and make a great nation and to make his name great, so that even from him blessing would flow as far as the curse is found.

However, then the word אַ֥שְֽׁרֵי comes in. This is the word we find in Psalm 1 and carries a different meaning. Some have tried to convey this as happy, which is why this is the translation of one modern translation of the Bible. But even that doesn’t fully communicate this idea. For this is the equivalent to the blessedness talked about in Matthew 5:1-12 in the beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those who are persecuted.

The blessedness of both Psalm 1 and Matthew 5:1-12 is not talking about happiness in the sense of momentary joy. The blessedness they are communicating is the path to true human flourishing which we see come out in verse 3 where the leaf does not wither and they prosper in all they do. This is what it means to be the blessed one, the blessed man, the blessed woman. Here in Psalm 1, we are being given the path of what it looks like to truly flourish both in this life and the life to come.

Parents, if we are seeking to teach our children what it means to live a blessed life, then what follows is the path we must teach them. For the blessed life is not to pursue a particular education, to have a particular job, to make a certain amount of money, to have the right size family, to drive the right car or here in the Northwoods, the right Jeep or Truck. No. As two paths will be before them, we must point them and ultimately one another to the path of the blessed. This starts with the path the blessed does not take.

The Blessed One Doesn’t

Verse1. The Blessed one doesn't. The blessed one doesn’t take the counsel of the wicked, stand in the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of scoffers. He does not take this path.

Walk in the Counsel of the Wicked

First, the blessed one walks not in the counsel of the wicked. This counsel has the appearance of wisdom, yet it fails to start where all true wisdom begins, with a fear of God. And so, the blessed one walks not in this foolish, worldly counsel. He avoids taking the counsel of others in what is good and right, instead he trusts the wisdom of the LORD which instructs in what is good and right.

Stand in the Way of Sinners

Second, the blessed one does not stand in the way of sinners. Way here indicating ones habit, nature, character. And this way of sinners is the broad way of destruction (Matthew 7:13). And therefore the idea of standing in this way is then an ongoing hardening of sin, of not running away from it, fleeing from it, putting it off as one should. It is the accepting and embracing of it. The blessed one does not stand in this way of the sinners.

Sit in the Seat of Scoffers

Third, the blessed one does not sit in the seat of scoffers. The seat of scoffers is a very lofty place, but as Charles Spurgeon notes, “it is very near the gates of hell.” This lofty seat is a place where the scoffer sits and mocks and scoffs at others, thinking very well they are right in their thoughts, their judgments, justifying their sin.

Blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. For this way is a way that is counter to God. It is a way in which continues in its rejection of God and opposes his law.

Deuteronomy 6:4–7 ESV

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

The counsel of the wicked, the path of sinners, the seat of scoffers goes directly opposite this law. For where the law of God instructs to teach God’s commandments when seated, when walking, when lying down, the wide path of the sinners and the wicked calls to evil.

Such a slippery slope, a path that all are tempted to enter in. How shall one avoid it as the blessed one?

The Blessed One Is

Verse 2. If we are to avoid the counsel of the wicked, the path of sinners, and the seat of scoffers, our delight must be in the law of the LORD. To delight is to take great pleasure and joy in. Or as Christopher Ash says in his excellent commentary on the Psalms,

“His delight is what he most deeply desires.” [2]

It is God’s law and instruction that can keep us from the foolish counsel of the world, the path of sinners, and the seat of scoffers thinking ourselves right, though we are dead wrong. It is the law of God that reveals to us both the nature of God our creator, the world in which he made, and who we really are as sinners. It is God’s law that helps instruct us to how to then rightly live in this world and to thrive, to flourish, to be the blessed.

For the blessed one hears this law and not only obeys it, but finds delight in it. For in understanding that God is God and we are not, we are to realize then that his law is a very good law, very good instruction that is to aide us to both see where we are rebels, but also instruct us then how to rightly live.

For instance, where our current culture wants to counsel us away from marriage and children, God’s law counters this with showing the beauty of his gift of a wife and children. For just this morning in my daily Proverb, I read this from Proverbs 18:22 “22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.” Then there is this from Proverbs 17:6 “6 Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.”

This is just one example of how God’s law instructs and counters the foolishness of this world. And this is on the practical side, let alone how God’s law instructs us to know our God as creator and redeemer. God’s law counters our sinful and rebellious hearts by teaching us of God’s character and his relentless pursuit of us in his Anointed King, King Jesus.

A King who then comes to fulfill the law and instruct us further in teaching us the ways of God’s coming kingdom, the way to live. It is this instruction, this law that the blessed one finds their delight in!

‌And because the blessed one delights in this law, he meditates on it day and night, pondering on its teaching and truths. What does it mean to meditate? Listen to these words from J.I. Packer in his book Knowing God:

“Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God. It is an activity of holy Thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God.” [3]

Are we giving this kind of deep thought to the word of God? Of his teachings and instructions to us? Do we internalize it and think about it and find our delight in it?

The way of the blessed comes through a delight in God’s law, a meditating day and night on that law. For it is in this delight, in this constant pondering and meditating on the law, that we will be kept from the counsel of the wicked, the path of sinners, and the seat of scoffers. The way of the blessed one comes through delighting in God’s law.

Beloved, do we find our delight in the law of God? We should, for it is that will keep us and lead us to flourishing.

‌

Point #2: The Fruitful Way

Verse 3. The blessed one is like this tree planted by streams of water. A tree that is constantly nourished despite the likely dry conditions around it. And it is nourished to yield its fruit, and to ensure its leaf does not wither from the dryness. And even more, it is added that the blessed one will not wither, but that the blessed one will prosper in all that he does.

This prospering is not a prospering of things in this world. For again, consider that just before this it says that the blessed one’s leaf does not wither in the midst of dryness, of troubles, of poor conditions. The prospering and fruitful way here is dependent on the blessed one not being given the prosperity of this world, but the prospering of God’s continued grace and provision along the way. Of God’s nourishment and keeping in the midst of whatever may come.

What comfort this is to us in the midst of trials and struggles, though we may feel as if all is against us, that God promises all that are planted by him, in his grace, he will prosper, he will not let wither. Why? Because the blessed find themselves planted in God himself. And ultimately, in being planted by God is to be grafted into his olive tree, the tree of Christ as the Apostle Paul references in Romans 11. A tree that we have been grafted into as Christians, as those who have trusted by faith in Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection as the means of our salvation. A tree in which being grafted into, we receive his nourishment, his care. A tree in which we will abide in and be brought into glory.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves momentarily. For to abide in this planted tree, we yield our fruit, the fruit of righteousness that comes as we are nourished in Christ. The fruitful way of living is to be planted and rooted in God’s Anointed King, King Jesus! For it is he who nourishes us and produces such fruit in our lives. The fruit of the Spirit at work in us.

Yet, while this is true for the blessed one who is planted and rooted in Christ, this is not the case for the wicked. Verse 4.

Because of their ongoing rebellion against God, their raging, their scoffing at God and his anointed, as we will look at more next week in Psalm 2, the wicked are not like the blessed one. They do not flourish, they do not yield their fruit, at least not forever. No, the wicked are like chaff and will be driven away. Chaff is the seed coverings and other debris that is separated from the seed in the threshing of the grain. It is good for nothing and cast away into the wind because of its uselessness. And so, those who stand opposite the blessed, those who walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, and sit in the seat of scoffers in the end will be driven away just as their conflicting and evil desires tossed them around.

The fruitful way is the way of the blessed one, the way that delights in God’s law and ultimately in God’s Anointed King.

Point #3: The Righteous Way

Verse 5. Because of their wickedness, because of their scoffing, because of their ongoing rebellion, the wicked will not stand, they will not endure the coming judgment of God. Sinners will not stand in the congregation of the righteous, though they presumed they were part of that congregation.

This is a weighty warning, a warning that should sober us and make us examine ourselves carefully. A warning to never presume ourselves to be part of the congregation apart from visible evidence of fruitfulness from our being planted by God in Christ.

Friends, this is one of the beauties of church membership. This discernment isn’t left to us and us alone to determine and see. For in the exercising of the keys of the kingdom, the practicing of church membership we are helping to affirm one another with credible testimonies of faith, of belief, of conversion. Affirming one another with credible fruit of our being planted by God in Christ. And though church membership isn’t salvific and at times gets it wrong, it obeys the law of Christ and helps us labor for the sake of one another.

The wicked will not stand, they will perish. But the LORD knows the way of the righteous and they will stand in the day of judgment. For the LORD knows them because they are in God’s Anointed King, King Jesus. For in this language of the congregation of the righteous implies that the Anointed Son, the King set on the throne of Psalm 2 is the leader of this congregation. And this King is none other than the Son of God, Jesus. The word become flesh, the one who has instructed those who are his and taught them to teach all that he has commanded. It is this leader then that is the reason we are able to be called righteous, for we stand not in our righteousness, but his.

‌Conclusion

‌There are two contrasting paths we can take in life. We can either take the way of the wicked by taking their counsel, standing in the path of wickedness, and sitting on the seat of the scoffers or we can delight in God’s law and meditate on it day and night as we pursue the path of righteousness. The question is, which we will choose?

Preach

Plead to take the way of life

‌

Endnotes

[1] Derouchie, Jason S. What the Old Testament Authors Really Cared About. (Kregel Academic, Grand Rapids, MI. 2013.) 320.

[2] Ash, Christopher. The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary. Volume 2, Psalms 1-50. (Crossway. Wheaton, IL. 2024.) 10.

[3] Packer, J.I. Knowing God. (InterVarsity Press. Downers Grove, IL. 1993.) 23.