The Way of Blessing

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Introduction: Today I want us to look at Psalm 1 and the way we receive the blessing of the Lord. The Psalms are divided into categories and Psalm 1 is a wisdom psalm. There are about 25 wisdom psalms. The wisdom psalms deal with God’s Word, God’s Blessing, and God’s Judgment. The wisdom psalms also wrestle with the problem of evil in the world and why God permits the prosperity of the wicked who reject His law. Psalm 1 focuses on God’s Word, God’s Blessing, and God’s Judgment.

Psalm 1 describes three different persons—the person who receives a blessing, the person who is a blessing, and the person who needs a blessing. Let’s pray and then look at the Psalm!

"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." (Psalm 1:1-6, ESV)

Verses 1 and 2 describe the covenant person—one who belongs to God and is obedient to God’s Word. God had made it very clear in Leviticus and Deuteronomy that He would bless their obedience and judge their disobedience. The word “blessed” used here in Psalm 1 is asher, the name of one of Jacob’s sons (Gen. 30:12). It’s plural: “O the happinesses! O the blessednesses!” The person described here, the one who receives a blessing from the Lord met the conditions and therefore God blessed him. If we want God’s blessing, we, too, must meet two conditions.

First to be directed by God’s Word—that is what God says is more important that what others say or do and we must be careful not to form alliances or relationships with anything or anyone in the world that will lead us away from what God says (James 4:4, 1 John 2:15-17). The Psalmist tells us this—if you follow the wrong counsel, you will stand with the wrong companions, and finally sit with the wrong crowd— and secondly to delight and meditate on God’s Word—we delight to hear God speak, we put God’s Word in our heart meditate on it. The word “meditate” in the Hebrew means to mutter, to read in an undertone. Orthodox Jews speak and they read the Scripture. The Word is not only in our hearts, but it is also on our lips.

Warren Wiresbe beautifully sums up the idea of mediating on God’s Word. “If we speak to the Lord about the Word, the Word will speak to us about the Lord.”[1] (This is what John refers to in 1John 2:14).

The person then who receives a blessing from the Lord, must not keep the blessing to himself. Wiresbe goes on to say, “If the blessing stays with us, then the gifts become more important than the Giver, and this is idolatry. We are to become channels of God’s blessing to others. [2] (Acts 20:35) In Psalm 1 the tree symbolizes a person who gives because as he gives he is receiving from the source (the river—in God’s Word is often a picture of God’s provision and Spiritual blessing).

And as channels of God’s blessing, we are to give to those who are in need of God (verse 4-6)—and his blessing in their lives.

We receive the Word as we are obedient to hear the Word, speak the Word, and Share the Word with others—hear, speak, and share! The Lord wants to bless us so that we can be a blessing to others!

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[1]Wiersbe, W. W. (2004). Be worshipful (1st ed.) (13). Colorado Springs, Colo.: Cook Communications Ministries.

[2]Wiersbe, W. W. (2004). Be worshipful (1st ed.) (13). Colorado Springs, Colo.: Cook Communications Ministries.