What To Do

Verses

Psalm 1:2 NIV

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

Brief Comment

I want to make a brief comment before we move into the sermon. God is a God of peace and order. God is a God of respect and love. He is not a God of chaos, disrespect, or violence. God expects us as individuals, as a community, and as a nation to be people of respect, order, and peacefulness. I believe we are called to a high standard of thought, values and behavior. I believe we should honor that calling and rise to that standard.

Introduction

Today is the second installment in the series, “A Good Start.” As you may remember, this series will focus on the first chapter of the first book of Psalms.

As we reviewed last week, in its present form, the book of Psalms consists of 150 poems divided into five books (1–41, 42–72, 73–89, 90–106, 107–150), the first four of which are marked off by concluding doxologies. Psalm 150 serves as a doxology for the entire collection. The distinguishing feature of the Psalms is their devotional character. Whether their matter be didactic, historical, prophetical, or practical, it is made the ground or subject or prayer, or praise, or both.

Transition

Last week we looked at the first verse of Psalms chapter 1. In that verse we were given some guidance about what to avoid in our faith walk and our relationship with God. Psalm 1:1 told us to avoid the guidance and beliefs of the wicked. It told us to avoid surrounding ourselves with the wicked and to avoid living as the wicked live.

Verse two shifts to begin talking about what we should do. Verse 1 sets the stage by telling us what to avoid. Verse two provides us with direction about what to do.

Focus

What the righteous man does.

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.

His delight is in the law of the LORD:

Throughout Psalms, the phrase law of the LORD is used to describe God’s entire word, not only the “law” portion of the first five books of the Bible. The righteous man is delighted with the word of God!

We often like to pick and choose what we want to honor in God’s word. We pick the easier things and ignore the more difficult things. We focus on fellowship but we ignore accountability. We talk about faith but fall short in our commitment to true discipleship. We follow Jesus to the last supper but step out with Judas and avoid the reality of the cross. We are called to the entirety of God’s word.

What makes you happy? What gets you excited? This is a good way to see what is important to you. If personal pleasure is the only thing that makes you happy, then you are a selfish, self-centered person. If being with your family or friends delights you, that can be better, but it still falls short. The righteous man finds his delight…in the law of the LORD.

When is the last time you were excited about time in God’s word? We rush home or set our DVR’s to make sure we don’t miss the most recent episode of our favorite show. I essentially have a room dedicated to watching sports on the biggest screen I could create, but have yet to create a prayer closet. Where is our excitement for the word of God? There are few things that beat a great football game with surround sound, but it certainly falls short when considered next to the life-give, grace-revealing word of God. We need to find our joy - our first love in the word of God and the presence of the resurrected Christ.

How important is this...

“Man must have some delight, some supreme pleasure. His heart was never meant to be a vacuum. If not filled with the best things, it will be filled with the unworthy and disappointing.” (Spurgeon)

If a person delights in something, you don’t have to beg him to do it or to like it. He will do it all by himself. You can measure your delight for the word of God by how much you hunger for it.

In His law he meditates day and night:

The righteous man ponders the word of God. He does not just hear it and forget it; he thinks about it. Christians should meditate on God’s word!

In eastern meditation, the goal is to empty the mind. This is dangerous, because an empty mind may present an open invitation to deception or a demonic spirit. But in Christian meditation, the goal is to fill your mind with the word of God. This can be done by carefully thinking about each word and phrase, applying it to one’s self, and praying it back to the Lord.

“Meditation chews the cud, and gets the sweetness and nutritive virtue of the Word into the heart and life: this is the way the godly bring forth much fruit.” (Ashwood, cited by Spurgeon)

Many lack because they only read and do not meditate. It is not only reading that does us good; but the soul inwardly feeding on it, and digesting it.

This is something I need to work on. I read and study a good bit, but I struggle sometimes to ‘feel’ it.’ I need to work on being quieter and more open.

“A preacher once told me that he had read the Bible through twenty times on his knees and had never found the doctrine of election there. Very likely not. It is a most uncomfortable position in which to read. If he had sat in an easy chair he would have been better able to understand it.” (Spurgeon)

The righteous man only has God’s word on his mind two times a day: day and night. That about covers it all!

Martin Luther said that he could not live in paradise without the word of God, but he could live well enough in hell with it.

Conclusion

Where do you want to live? Heaven or hell? I do not mean ultimately. I mean on this side of the grave. Heaven is about the presence of God and hell is about the absence of God. Where do you spend your days? Verse one, that we looked at last week, tells where not to be if we want to be able to experience the joy of a faith-filled life. Today verse 2 tells us how to find the joy of life in the presence of God. It’s not complicated. It’s just two things: Be excited about the word of God and invest the time and energy to truly feed on the word of God. And do it as an ongoing, interwoven part of your daily life.