Psalm 1
Your Blessed Life Now!
Do you remember as a child the feeling you would get when Christmas was on the way? Do you remember the tree, shining and decorated, sitting in it’s honored place in the living room. Each day it caught your eye, and each day it reminded you of the joy to come. Perhaps there were presents stacked underneath that you had meticulously shuffled through checking the tags for your name. Do you remember the excitement and the eager anticipation for the joy that awaited you on that day? Take yourself back to that day and remember the joy and anticipation, or consider any such situation in your life when you were excited about the promise of a future joy. That is what it means to be blessed. When the Bible speaks of someone who is blessed it refers to happiness or anticipation that comes from the coming of good and wonderful things. Isnt it a great thing to feel blessed? To know that great things are on the horizon and to be eagerly anticipating what is ahead is a wonderful feeling. To have your troubles and hardships overshadowed by a great and wonderful anticipation of what the future has in store. How many of us want to live blessed lives? How many of us want to be filled with the reflection of great and wonderful things on the way? Blessed = “Oh the happiness!”
How many of you want to feel cursed? If being blessed means an eager expectation of the good and joy on it’s way to you, how many want to loath tomorrow and its coming misery? Who wants to dread the future? Like when I was a teenager and I wrecked my car because I was not paying attention when I was driving. I had to make that call to my parents. I knew that nothing good awaited me in that call or in the days ahead. At that point I felt like everything I touched turned into a mess. Have you been there? Are you there now? Does the cloud of impending doom hang over your head this morning?
Have you ever felt this way? DESPAIR PICTURES
According to a recent study by the World Health Organization and Harvard Medical School, America may very well be the saddest nation in the world. Researchers found that 9.6 percent of Americans suffer from depression or bipolar disorder—the highest among 14 major nations polled. Those nations that scored better than the U.S. suffer from ongoing wars and rumors of war (Lebanon), vast unemployment (Mexico), and profound poverty (Nigeria). In his Wall Street Journal article, "The Great Depression," Bret Stephens argues that perhaps America scores poorly as a nation because its population is generally comfortable and wealthy. Such luxuries allow that much more time for critically picking apart life situations and personal circumstances. Those who live in countries torn apart by varying social and economic issues have less time to fret over personal gain and ambition. They are simply too busy trying to survive.
Another study showed that although the U.S. standard of living has increased since W.W. II, there is no increase in the number of people who regard themselves as happy. A U.S. News & World Report on the subject says, "Once income provides basic needs, it doesn't correlate to happiness. Nor does intelligence, prestige, or sunny weather. People grow used to new climates, higher salaries, and better cars."
How can we be a blessed people rather than a cursed people? How can we feel the favor of God and the eager anticipation of his goodness that is awaiting us? How can we escape the prison of despair and the fear of tomorrow? How do you rid yourself of the feeling when you wake up in the morning that you wished you were still asleep? How can we live a blessed life instead of a depressed life?
Prayer for God to show us how to live blessed lives that are filled with hope and an eager expectation of his plans and purposes.
Psalm 1:1-6
1. A Man is Blessed By What He Abandons.
We must be careful where we linger. Walking, standing and sitting not only communicates a comfort level and communion that we should flee, but a relationship that grows and infects the heart. Christians MUST guard their faith. It is more precious than pure gold. Just as people take their riches and place them behind armored walls and guards, so Christians much guard their faith.
I remember sitting down to coffee with a young Christian woman who was planning on marrying a Muslim. With all my heart I plead with her to reconsider and opened the Scriptures to show her that desire was outside of God’s expressed will. (2 Cor. 6:14). With tears streaming down her face she tried to justify her desires by telling me of her loneliness and fear that God would never send to her another man she could love so much. A part of me wanted to wipe away her tears and say, “okay, I think it will be okay.” But I could not. You see, there is a difference between living your best life now and living your blessed life now. The best life is the life that looks right and feels right and gives you want you think you want. The blessed life is the life that sometimes has to abandon worldly wisdom and particular people and circumstances. There is a Russian proverb that says, “Small children give you a headache, big children a heartache.” God will not treat you as an infant and force you were you ought to be. God allows you to choose to draw near to his heart or to cause it to ache. One way we do that is by what we abandon, or fail to abandon. A man can be blessed by what he abandons. The idea that God calls us to abandon things because he wants to withhold good for us is the same lie the enemy has been perpetuating since the garden. Sometimes the best life now results in a stomach full of bitter forbidden fruit. But to delight in the Lord makes a person blessed and eager for tomorrow.
Counsel of the wicked
Way of Sinners
Seat of Scoffers
Why? The end of such men is:
Walk in the counsel of the wicked will run from the presence of the Lord.
Stand in the way of sinners will not stand in the Day of Judgment
Those who sit in the seat of scoffers will find no empty seats among the righteous.
They are treated life chaff...left to drift away.
2. A Man is Blessed By What He Absorbs
It is not simply what we say “no” to that leads to a blessed life, but what we say, “yes” to as well. We read that a man is blessed by leaving the counsel of the wicked and filling themselves with counsel in the Law of God. We must rid ourselves of the notion that we read our Bibles for God! It is not for God’s benefit that we strive to know His ways and understand his desires. It is not a benefit to God to drag through a daily devotion. We are the ones who are blessed by His Law and we are the ones who are filled with the eager expectation of life’s tomorrows by embracing his truth. It is to be our delight to possess the words of truth and be filled with words that are like stone foundations and beacons in the night.
Have you ever tried doing something exciting and fun for your kids to have them gripe and moan at the thought of it? I remember when I tried to get Haven to eat some dessert for the first time. She thought I was trying to get her to eat something that was like a raw carrot or brussel spout, but I was trying to get her to open up for a piece of ooey gooey dessert. “Try it!” I encouraged, “you will love it!” But she just kept saying, “No, I don’t like it!” It was ridiculous. Here I was trying to force feed my child something that should have been a great delight. She thought I was trying to get her to do me a favor, when it was really the other way around. The Psalmist says,
Psalm 16: 7
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rulesof the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
In Jeremiah we read,
Jer. 15:16 Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O Lord, God of hosts.
We are blessed not only by exposing ourselves to the Law of God but by meditating on it. This is not simply a quiet inner contemplation that is being suggested. In fact, the word for “think” or “meditate” communicates the idea of a lion that is growling over its captured prey. It may be silent, or it may be vocal. It is an intense, delightful plunging into the Word of God with all of one’s appetite. Do you want to live your blessed life now? Open God’s Word and dive in. Look at them. Think upon them. Chew on them and let them penetrate your life. Let God’s Word guide where you walk, stand and sit. Let them be the place you linger for direction and fulfillment.
But aren’t we past the Law? Doesn’t this psalm reveal that it was a blessing for the Old Covenant alone? Perhaps a Christian could growl over the Law, but delight in it?
Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
We are still under law, but it is no longer the law of sin and death, but the law of the Spirit of life. We meditate on the Law and we see our perfection in Christ. We see the desires and will of God and we strive to in accordance with those desires in thankfulness of his grace and love rather than under the fear of judgment for our failures. We dwell on the forgiveness God has displayed throughout the ages and recognize the great price that was paid for that forgiveness. There are two sides to the Law. The side on which the son shines to reveal God’s glory and grace and the side that sits in the shadow of duty and impending judgment. Which side are you on?
The word of God says that those who meditate and delight upon his Word are like a tree, firmly rooted, feed by running waters, that always stays green. Your blessed life now does not mean that the things you abstain from will not strive to make you feel insignificant, but promises that you will remain prominent like a tree or pillar in the house of God. Your blessed life now does not mean that storms and winds will not crash down upon your life, but that you will remain solid and firmly rooted. Your blessed life now does not mean that there will not be deserts and arid plains to cross, but that the stream of God will always be feeding you from beneath. Your blessed life now does not mean that you will always get what you want when you want it. But it promises that your life will produce fruit, fruit that will last.
Do you want to be a person who lives their blessed life now? Consider what it is that God may be calling you to abandon. Progress is measured more by direction than by speed. It is not progress if you are headed in the wrong direction. Sometimes we have to let go of something before our hands can be ready to receive from God.
Do you want to be a person who lives their blessed life now? Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Here is God’s book of blessing. Take it and let it fill your mind and heart. Allow it to penetrate your life. May we see the truth as Abraham saw it: You, O Lord are my shield, and my very great reward. May your life prosper in Christ.